The short pitch for this story is that Apple is planning to use its own displays somewhere around the 2024-25 timeframe. That means less reliance on LG and Samsung. It starts with Apple Watches and then eventually to iPhones with microLED technology.
Apple’s project is being led by Wei Chen, who runs Apple’s display technology group within Johny Srouji’s Hardware Technologies division. The company has begun testing the microLED displays on an update to the Apple Watch Ultra, its new high-end sports watch.
Bloomberg
Compared with current Apple Watches, the next-generation displays are designed to offer brighter, more vibrant colors and the ability to be better seen at an angle. The displays make content appear like it’s painted on top of the glass, according to people who have seen them, who asked not to be identified because the project is still under wraps.
Our Take on Not Invented Here (NIH)
Let’s not doubt that the world’s largest technology company has the power to make this happen successfully. It has motive, means, and opportunity. It may also have leverage to squeeze suppliers who now have a clear mandate to avoid being taken out by in-house manufacturing. Awesome. The move may have been telegraphed many years ago
- Apple acquired LuxVue Technology, a startup company that developed microLED panels, in 2014 which then lead to speculation surrounding a patent for microLEDs using quantum dot technology in 2017
- Which comes around to Apple building a facility in Longtan, Taiwan for microLED manufacturing in 2020
Here’s how NIH works, though, particularly in multi-national corporations that end up resembling governments and government bureaucracies eventually. If things are great, people like the product, operating efficiencies have been delivered, and stock prices are up, it’s a winning strategy. However, when things start to go a little off-kilter then, you have some issues. In Apple’s case, they have to go really big or go home. Apple has also had a pretty good stretch of success for the last 15 years. I hate to say it, but the company is due a couple of duds. It is also still in Steve Jobs legacy mode which means that it has that cool brand mystique. All it takes is a change in perceptions and well, it is the biggest of ships to maneuver.
And then there’s the fact that Apple’s jilted suppliers should take note and see this is a competitive opportunity. They will. How can they not. And that could mean real threats to Apple’s dominance. Obviously, this all has to be dealt with at scale: Apple is too big to fail, and it has way too much brand loyalty among its users to see real fluctuations in its fortunes; opportunities that can turn into threats will have to chip away at the periphery of Apple’s markets. The Apple Watch is vulnerable – and I own one.
On a philosophical note, NIH is also very insular. It becomes a victim of corporate politics , the fear and loathing that comes with being an internal project that has people you can point fingers at and blame for stuff, instead of outside suppliers. That can lead to all kinds of issues and even stagnation. After all, who is Apple competing with when it makes these kinds of moves. It may be the company is enjoying a lengthy period of operational excellence, but the phlegmatic part of me would say, nothing lasts forever.
The sanguine part of me says this as an opportunity for LG and Samsung.
