It seems the dream of an Apple Watch with a microLED display has just ended. According to new reporting from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, Apple sees the technology as complex and has recently ended plans to bring the technology to its watches.
As part of the decision, Apple is also laying off some of the team working on microLED-related projects, mainly in the United States and Asia. This decision was made around the same time Apple canceled the Apple Car and involved the costs, and other supply issues related to the project. Of course, Apple has no comment on this, but today’s new reporting lines up with what respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi-Ko believed earlier this month.
Apple’s Watches already use OLED displays. A switch to microLED technology could have benefited the overall image quality of the watch, as well as the risk of screen burn-in issues. Apple has been working on this since 2020, and it was originally believed that an Apple Watch with a microLED display could come in 2025. Reportedly, Apple now doesn’t think that this is worth it in current times, but there is a chance for it sometime well later on. Though it’s clear that “it won’t happen anytime soon,” Gurman reported that microLED could be used in other projects, and is looking to work with other suppliers.