The American company continues with its plan to reduce its dependence on other companies by producing its own components. In this way, you have more control over the design and capabilities of your products. Among others, it seeks to produce its own WiFi, Bluetooth and modem chips to replace those of manufacturers Broadcom and Qualcomm in the future.
But it also plans to produce the screens for its devices. According to statements from sources close to the technology company collected by Bloomberg, Apple will begin to implement its own screens in the brand’s high-end watches by the end of next year 2024.
100% Apple screens
After that, the company intends to bring its own screens to other of its devices such as the iPhone. Likewise, the screens produced by Apple will update the current OLED standard, advocating microLED technology, as the sources have advanced.
This technology is already produced by Samsung, which has implemented it in some models of its televisions. The company, one of the leading manufacturers of the most advanced displays globally, makes about 6.6 percent profit on iPhone sales, according to Bloomberg.
However, as journalist and analyst Mark Gurman has pointed out, Apple would benefit “in the long term” from customizing its devices and manufacturing its own microLED screens to “maintain stronger control over its supply chain.”
Testing
So far, the company has tested microLED displays in an update to its high-end sports watch, the Apple Watch Ultra, Bloomberg has reported. Specifically, these next-generation displays offer brighter colors and the ability for improved viewing angles. In addition, sources close to the company, who have seen these new screens, say that this new technology “makes the content appear painted on the glass.”
The project to develop its own screens began in 2018, as reported by Bloomberg. So much so that sources close to the company have indicated that Apple set the goal of changing its screens to microLED as of 2020. However, high costs and technical difficulties prevented the project from going ahead.
Meanwhile, the suppliers of screens for Apple have been several. In addition to Samsung and LG, Apple has been sourcing its displays from various vendors including Japan Display Inc., Sharp Corporation, and BOE Technology Group. On the other hand, facing the manufacturing process of the new screens, the company could depend on an external supplier when it comes to mass production.