Released late last year, the Apple Watch Ultra quickly won plaudits for improving upon the already successful Apple Watch formula. The recipe was simple: take an Apple Watch, boost the size, make it rugged enough to withstand any environment and give it a few extra features to excel in them, too.
It even won over traditional watch fans. Guitarist, pop icon and esteemed watch collector, John Mayer, has been very vocal in his appreciation for the Apple Watch Ultra, for example.
Now, it looks set to be the first Apple product to feature a new, in-house MicroLED display. That's according to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who has a good track record for predicting Apple updates.
According to the report, Apple is planning to introduce its own MicroLED displays by 2024, though that could slip back to 2025. It's likely that these displays will debut on 'high-end Apple Watches' like the Ultra, before expanding to other devices in the Apple catalogue.
Apple have been working on MicroLED technology since 2014 and had intially expected it to be in use by 2020, before complications in the design and manufacturing process delayed it. It's likely that the displays will be designed by Apple but manufactured by an external third party – not dissimilar to the M-series and A-series chips.
It's a great move for Apple. Taking control of their component design process should enable them to be more innovative and take more chances when designing new technologies. I don't necessarily think it will reduce the cost for Apple, at least in the short term, but I don't think that's intended to be the main benefit.
The key step will be when it hits the iPhone line-up. The larger display size will enable the technology to shine more than the smaller Apple Watch display.
