MicroLED Apple Watch Still on Track for Late 2025 Launch
Apple's microLED Apple Watch is on track to launch in late 2025, according to Jeff Pu, a tech analyst at Hong Kong investment firm Haitong International Securities.
In a note to investors seen by MacRumors, Pu said that the first Apple Watch with a microLED display will launch in late 2025. The advanced display technology offers improved brightness, color reproduction, and viewing angles, making images look more like they are "painted" atop the glass.
Yesterday, a Weibo leaker reported that the next worthwhile upgrade for the Apple Watch Ultra users will be Apple's custom microLED display technology. Apple's plan to bring a microLED display to the Apple Watch Ultra is very widely corroborated, starting with a report from display analyst Ross Young in January.
After initially placing the device's launch in 2024, Young moved his forecast to the second-half of 2025. Bloomberg, on the other hand, reported a 2024 time frame earlier this year. TrendForce claims that Apple's first microLED display will launch on a new Apple Watch Ultra model in 2026, due to supply chain adjustments. With Young and Pu, as well as leaks on Weibo, now pointing to a launch in 2025, the microLED Apple Watch Ultra may launch sooner than previously expected.
The microLED display is expected to be 2.12-inches in size, a 10% increase over the display of the current Apple Watch Ultra. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported Apple is likely planning to bring custom microLED displays to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac after the technology debuts in a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra. He believes Apple's long-term plan is to bring microLED displays to all of its key products. Other reports from DigiTimes, Nikkei Asia, and The Information have indicated similar plans for Apple to transition to custom microLED displays across multiple product lines in an effort to become less reliant on Samsung.
Popular Stories
The first benchmark results for the standard M3 chip surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today, providing a closer look at the chip's CPU performance improvements. Based on the results so far, the M3 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 3,000 and 11,700, respectively. The standard M2 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 2,600 and 9,700, respectively, so the...
Apple appears to be internally testing an iOS 17.1.1 update for the iPhone, based on evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs this week. iOS 17.1.1 will almost certainly be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues the update will address. The update could include the same fix for Wi-Fi connectivity issues that Apple rolled out in the first iOS 17.2 beta,...
Apple's latest M3 Pro chip in the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro has 25% less memory bandwidth than the M1 Pro and M2 Pro chips used in equivalent models from the two previous generations. Based on the latest 3-nanometer technology and featuring all-new GPU architecture, the M3 series of chips is said to represent the fastest and most power-efficient evolution of Apple silicon thus far. ...
Apple today released a new firmware update designed for the AirTag item trackers. The firmware features a build number of 2A61, up from the 2A36 firmware that came out last December. It has been nearly a year since Apple updated the firmware on the AirTags, and there is no word yet on what might be included in the update. Today's firmware release will be rolling out on a staggered basis....
The first benchmark results for Apple's M3 Max chip surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today, providing a look at CPU performance. Based on the "Mac15,9" model identifier shown, the results appear to be for the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. The highest multi-core score for the M3 Max with a 16-core CPU is currently 21,084 as of writing. If this early result is accurate, this means the M3 Max is ...
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers and public beta testers last week, and the software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones. Below, we have highlighted 10 of these new features and changes. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in December. Once available, the update can be installed in the Settings app under General → Software...
Macs equipped with the standard M3 chip still support only one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, according to Apple's tech specs. So far, the chip is available in the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 24-inch iMac. This limitation has existed since the first Apple silicon Macs with the M1 chip were released in 2020, but users can connect multiple external displays to...
The lower-cost Apple Music Voice Plan is being discontinued this month in the U.S. and all other countries where it was available, according to an Apple support document. Brazilian website MacMagazine was first to alert us to this news. "Beginning in November, Apple will discontinue the Apple Music Voice plan," said Apple. "We are focused on delivering the best, most robust music experience...
Top Rated Comments
See you next week when it says “micro LED delayed to 2026”
Easy to get confused but iPads have miniLED not microLED. At the moment, microLED is basically the holy grail of display technology and is definitely seen as superior to OLED. Hopefully, the table below will make this clearer.
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]LED[/TD]
[TD]miniLED[/TD]
[TD]OLED[/TD]
[TD]microLED[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Products[/TD]
[TD]Apple Studio Display, iMac, MacBook Air, iPad Air, iPad mini[/TD]
[TD]Apple Pro Display XDR, MacBook Pro, iPad Pro (12.9")[/TD]
[TD]iPhone, iPhone Pro, Apple Watch, Apple Watch Ultra[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Display type[/TD]
[TD]Backlit[/TD]
[TD]Backlit[/TD]
[TD]Emissive[/TD]
[TD]Emissive[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Contrast[/TD]
[TD]Low[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Response time[/TD]
[TD]Low (ms)[/TD]
[TD]Low (ms)[/TD]
[TD]Medium (µs)[/TD]
[TD]High (ns)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Efficiency[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lifetime[/TD]
[TD]Long[/TD]
[TD]Long[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Long[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Brightness[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Blooming[/TD]
[TD]No[/TD]
[TD]Yes[/TD]
[TD]No[/TD]
[TD]No[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Viewing angles[/TD]
[TD]Low[/TD]
[TD]Low[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Flexibility[/TD]
[TD]Low[/TD]
[TD]Low[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Operating temperature[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD]High[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]