Just as QDM and OLED are still hot in the future TV competition, at the beginning of this year, MicroLED frequently appeared in the public eye. The rumors that Apple has joined the development and manufacture of Micro LEDs seem to have changed the winds of the future.
Apple was exposed to "secret" research and development
Recently, it was reported that Apple is designing and manufacturing its own display screen in California's R&D and manufacturing facilities. This display is a Micro LED screen. Hundreds of engineers are working on the project, and this technology is likely to be used first for Apple Watch.
As soon as the news flowed out, it immediately caused the vibration of the panel display industry. The share prices of Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display, and Sharp fell.
Apple previously acquired LuxVue Technologies, Inc., which develops Micro LED display panel technology. In the past ten years, Apple has applied for a total of 11 patents related to Micro LED, while LuxVue has applied for 23 patents, which means that Apple has a total of 34 MicroLED patents.
Kim Jong-chan, head of the display panel department of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, publicly stated that Apple applied for these patents to the Korean government because South Korea has two major display panel giants, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, and two Korean companies may The MicroLED display will be used in the device.
In fact, after the acquisition, Apple aimed at the Micro LED, but due to the difficulty of implementing this technology, the plan was put on hold.
Currently, Apple has not publicly responded to this news.
Considered the ultimate LED
Micro LEDs are considered the ultimate LED in the industry. Like OLEDs, they are made up of light-emitting diodes. Both are “self-illuminatingâ€, which provide the same contrast and color performance as OLEDs.
Due to the difference in materials, in theory, Micro LEDs may perform better than OLEDs in terms of brightness, response speed, contrast, and color saturation. In terms of display density, the Micro LED can be further broken. In theory, if the Micro LED is used on the iPhone 8, the display density can reach 1500 ppi or more.
In reality, OLEDs must reduce white and high-brightness display to achieve power-saving effects, while Micro LEDs can reduce power consumption by 90% compared to LCDs and 50% lower than OLEDs.
The giants have stepped in
In fact, at this year's CES show, Samsung launched the world's first MicroLED TV "The Wall", a 146-inch modular TV with MicroLED technology, with amazing clarity and no size, resolution or form factor limits.
Last month, Samsung denied that it would return to the OLED large-size screen field, which means that Samsung will continue to focus on QLED and Micro LED in the future.
At the same time, the news pointed out that LG Electronics executives visited the TV business unit in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province on February 21, and pointed out that it is necessary to prepare a larger Micro LED than Samsung's The Wall TV before September this year. TV, LG Electronics plans to use LG Innotek's Micro LED.
The domestic panel industry giant BOE has joined the research and development of Micro LED. On March 15, BOE said on the investor interaction platform that the company has already carried out technical research on Micro LED and made some progress.
Mass production still has difficulty
For a long time, Apple has not been able to grasp its own "destiny" on the screen.
Currently, in the field of small and medium-sized OLED screens, Samsung is the absolute overlord, and in the field of large-size OLED screens, LG is the leader.
It is reported that Samsung's OLED screen yield for Apple's mobile phone is only 60%, which directly affects the processing and manufacturing of Apple's mobile phone, which ultimately restricts shipments. At the same time, in terms of price control, Apple also on the screen. Being in a disadvantage, it makes Apple "frustrated."
However, even if Apple wants to achieve cornering overtaking through Micro LED, it is not easy to achieve self-created screens beyond the current oligarchs of the panel display industry, which may be difficult to achieve in the short term.
The essence of MicroLED is the miniature array of LEDs, which directly determines its extremely high technical difficulty.
Panel display industry technicians pointed out to reporters that Micro LED components are less than 100 microns. The difficulty in production is how to transfer and paste millions of tiny LED components into a single panel, thus improving the yield of larger panels.
The placement accuracy of these tiny LED components is required to be between 1.5 μm. In a very small panel size, the single-chip RGB LED chip requires higher process technology and materials, and ultra-high-density packaging on the same wafer material. technology.
According to LED inside analysis of TrendForce, the cost of MicroLED TV is much higher than that of traditional LCD or OLED TV. At present, the cost of LCD and OLED can be suppressed to the consumer's acceptable level, but it is difficult for Micro LED TV.
At present, Samsung, which has already exhibited the world's first Micro LED TV, has not announced the specific time for the production of Micro LED mass production.
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