CES 2025 | Samsung showcases 4,000 nits bright microLED display: An option for the Garmin Fenix 8 or Galaxy Watch Ultra?

While Apple is said to have put plans for an Apple Watch Ultra with a microLED display on hold for reasons of cost, rumors continue to suggest that a new variant of the Garmin Fenix 8 will get a microLED display, while other rumors about a Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra with a microLED display are also making the rounds.

At CES, Samsung is currently showcasing a microLED display developed specifically for smartwatches for the first time, finally providing an insight into the advantages of the technology in such a small form factor. The concept smartwatch, which can be seen in the video embedded below from superscientific, maxes out at an enormous peak brightness of 4,000 nits. By comparison, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is currently the brightest smartwatch on the market at 3,000 nits, so the microLED display is a third brighter. Compared to OLED, microLED is said to have lower power consumption, higher color fidelity and, above all, a longer lifespan and greatly reduced likelihood of burn-in.

Such a bright display would confer two main advantages on smartwatch users. Firstly, the display would be legible at all times, even in direct sunlight. Secondly, the extremely high brightness value means that the display could effectively be used as a flashlight, possibly rendering dedicated LED flashlights in smartwatches obsolete. Samsung Display is yet to announce when the panel will go into mass production or which smartwatch manufacturers plan to ship products with this panel.