Apple and Sony accelerate timetable for new screen production

By Park Sae-jin Posted : August 10, 2016, 12:41 Updated : August 10, 2016, 12:41

The first generation of Apple's Apple Watch uses flexible OLED [Courtesy of Apple]



Electronics giants Apple and Sony are accelerating the commercialization of micro-LED, a next-generation display technology, as their South Korean counterparts focused on upgrading OLED technology, according to a market researcher.

Micro LED, also known as mLED, is more battery efficient than LCD and has better color gamuts and brightness levels but mLED panels are more expensive to produce than flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens.

TrendForce, a market intelligence provider, said in a recent report that Apple and Sony have encouraged further investments in mLED and accelerated the timetable for its commercialization.

It predicts that mLED displays for smart wearable devices will enter the mass production stage in 2018 while the technology will become available for smartphones later in 2020.

“Compared with the existing technologies, micro-LED offers significant improvements in many areas," Philip Chang, an analyst from LEDinside, a TrendForce division, said in the report. "The mass production of displays based on this technology is foreseeable in the near future despite many unresolved technical issues."

Apple is working with strategic partners to develop full-color mLED displays with high pixel density, TrendForce said, adding the company's approach is only cost effective and commercially feasible for small-size displays used in wearable devices.

"Basing on the technology's development level and Apple's product roadmap, Apple is likely to launch wearable devices with micro-LED displays in 2018," Chang said. "However, the market will have to wait much longer for Apple to use micro-LED in the iPhone series because smartphone screens require greater pixel volume."

Sony's priority has been on screen size before image quality, TrendForce said, adding the company's mLED products are expected to enter the mass production phase in 2017.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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