Rumor claims Apple Watch Series 10 will have full LTPO display, improved battery life

Apple's next smartwatch may be a marathon runner in terms of battery life.

Rumors from The Elec claim that the Apple Watch Series 10 will use low-temperature polycrystaline oxide (LTPO) tech for its entire display, which could result in an increase in battery life. While the Apple Watch has used LTPO in some form or fashion since the Series 5, most of the transistors that actually control the light emitted by the display use low-temperature polycrystaline silicon (LTPS), which isn't as efficient. 

At a high level, LTPO screens can stabilize the voltage that passes through pixels better than LTPS, which results in better efficiency and, as a result, improved battery life. LTPO is currently used in Apple's Pro smartphones like the iPhone 15 Pro (available renewed on Amazon for $874.97), as well as other phones like Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra. 

LTPO tech is perhaps best well-known for supporting variable refresh rates (primarily in OLED screens), which has been a boon for smartphone batteries. Of course, the Apple Watch has supported variable refresh rates for a few generations, so the rumored improvements in battery life may be minimal. As such, take this news with a grain of salt. 

The Apple Watch is often hailed as a competent smartwatch with two key weaknesses. While the first is its entrapment in Apple's "walled garden" (the watch will not work with Android smartphones), the second is something Apple could feasibly improve: battery life. The Series 9, which offers the best battery life in an Apple Watch to date, lasts roughly 1.5 days, making daily charging a requirement for most.

Buy the Apple Watch Series 9 at Amazon.