Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Hmm, I’m hoping my 2021 S6 lasts till then. Between OS upgrades and a battery that starts degrading at about 5 yrs, I’m hoping the microLED ultra doesn’t delay longer, momma will want that one.
 
miniLED itself already proves that it's hard and expensive to mass produce that Apple is considering to use OLED after 2024. MicroLED? Way way way more difficult.
 
I bet there has now been 100 MacRumors 'news' over the last 5 years of MicroLED only being 2-3 years away from being launched.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Premium1
The Vision Pro has an OLED display that just happens to have a very high PPI. It's no distinct tech.
Not quite, microOLED is actually a somewhat distinct tech from regular OLED. It’s a different manufacturing process, also known as OLEDoS (i.e. OLED on silicon). MicroOLED uses a silicon wafer as the substrate, which is not the case for regular OLED.
 
The main advantage it will bring over the current OLED screens is better battery life, which is something the Apple Watch always benefits from considering the limited battery capacity they can fit inside the case.
…and/or higher brightness, which improves readability in broad daylight.
 
“Problems relating to high manufacturing costs” probably means that the yield is still too low.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tagbert
I swear MicroLED is the fusion energy of the display world. Beyond a few demonstrations, mass market release is ALWAYS just a few years away.

I've been hearing about it for over 10 years now.
It’s the new “Liquid Metal case” we kept waiting for last decade. Maybe we can wear one with both while we drive our cybertrucks.
 
Seriously don’t care about microled in a watch🤣
The immediate benefit would be more battery life in a watch as microLEDs are supposed to be more efficient than OLED.

Also, It’s a way for Apple to develop the processes to produce microLEDs. Once they have the experience building this for a watch, they can try doing it for a phone or a laptop.
 
Round would lose a lot of its functionality, waste screen real estate and cut battery space. No thanks
Have you tried a round smart watch from other brands?. Don’t feel like “a lot of functionality is lost”. I mean that their form
Factor is not the detrimental argument.
 
I swear MicroLED is the fusion energy of the display world. Beyond a few demonstrations, mass market release is ALWAYS just a few years away.

I've been hearing about it for over 10 years now.
I remember that stage of OLED. We had only recently starting getting affordable LCD displays but rumors were floated about a new, more efficient and colorful display tech called OLED where they could use an inkjet printer to print the screens. I don’t think that last part really came about but eventually we did get those mythical OLED screens. MicroLED is still in the “there be monsters” stage.
 
So is Apple still shipping a refreshed version of the Apple Watch Ultra this year as has been reported by some recently or will Apple wait until the new display technology is ready before it ships the next Ultra? I can see them delivering a spec bump each year to justify the price but can’t think of anything other than some kind of new sensor or the new display technology that would get somebody who just dropped $700+ on one to do it again so soon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Allen_Wentz
…and/or higher brightness, which improves readability in broad daylight.

The Ultra already reaches 2,000 nits. I’m guessing Apple is good with that and will instead focus on battery life. Maybe a little of both, though.
 
So by then, 2026, we’ll be 3 more nodes smaller and the AW will be so power efficient that you need to charge it only once per month…
/s
 
So is Apple still shipping a refreshed version of the Apple Watch Ultra this year as has been reported by some recently or will Apple wait until the new display technology is ready before it ships the next Ultra? I can see them delivering a spec bump each year to justify the price but can’t think of anything other than some kind of new sensor or the new display technology that would get somebody who just dropped $700+ on one to do it again so soon.
They generally do annual updates even if they are small. This is not for people who bought last year’s model. It’s to entice people who haven’t bought one, yet. Most people don’t buy every new version that comes out either for watch, phone, MacBook, etc. They buy one and wait a couple of years or longer to upgrade again.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.