Apple develops its own high-end screen in secret
Company continues to make moves to build more technology in-house
For the past decade, Apple has relied on suppliers in Asia to develop and manufacture high-end screens for its iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. But that may be coming to an end soon.
Apple is developing its own device displays for the first time in an unmarked facility in Santa Clara, Bloomberg reported.
The secret screen-manufacturing development marks the latest move by the Cupertino tech giant to build, in-house, technology that it currently outsources. Apple also reportedly considered developing future iPhones and iPads to operate with chips and modems from in-house and other suppliers in an effort to stop relying on technology from San Diego-based chip giant Qualcomm.
Apple will be developing MicroLED displays, an advanced successor to the current OLED dis-
play Apple uses for the deluxe iPhone X. MicroLED uses different light-emitting compounds than OLED, and it reportedly will allow Apple to build slimmer, brighter devices with less battery consumption.
However, MicroLED development is much more difficult, according to Bloomberg. Apple nearly gave up in developing a MicroLED display, but is now in an advanced stage of development, Bloomberg reported.
A MicroLED screen on an iPhone or an iPad is
still a long way off. It will take at least three to five years for the screen technology to reach the consumer market, and Apple will most likely have to outsource the MicroLED manufacturing to its supplier for mass production, Bloomberg reported.
The covert Apple facility appears to be the Scott Boulevard facility in Santa Clara, which this news organization reported as one of two major Santa Clara leases Apple signed in September 2014.
The manufacturing building has 60,000 square feet and is the second publicly known lease in Santa Clara by Apple. In 2012, Apple first expanded
beyond Cupertino and into Santa Clara by leasing 260,000 square feet in two office buildings. In 2015 and 2017, Apple leased more buildings on Santa Clara properties at 318,000 and 73,000 square feet, respectively.
The building holds about 300 engineers on the project, codenamed T159, according to Bloomberg. The project is led by Lynn Youngs, an Apple executive who helped developed touchscreens for the original iPhone and iPad, Bloomberg reported.
After the Bloomberg report, Apple’s main screen suppliers such as Sharp, Japan Displays and Samsung — Apple’s main smartphone rival and a supplier of OLED displays for iPhones — saw their shares dip. As of Monday afternoon’s trading, Japan Displays was the worst casualty of the three, with a 2.4 percent decline.
Samsung is working on its own MicroLED technology and already unveiled a MicroLED product.
The South Korean tech conglomerate displayed a 146-inch MicroLED television display dubbed “The Wall” at the CES convention in Las Vegas in January.