The Apple Watch Series 6 may arrive with an OLED display; no microLED display in sight

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Apple's recent investment of US$330 million in a Taiwanese microLED factory in Taiwan prompted rumours that an Apple Watch using this advanced display technology would be arriving later this year. This will not be the case, according to one leaker.

Alex Alderson, 06/09/2020

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The Apple Watch Series 6 will continue to use OLED panels, according to L0vetodream. Rumours to the contrary have suggested that Apple would be switching to microLED panels its latest smartwatch, which appear to have been born out from the company's recent investment of US$330 million in a Taiwanese microLED factory.

We should stress that microLED technology is not to be confused with Mini-LED. As Digital Trends explained earlier this year, microLED panels operate like OLEDs, insofar as each pixel can be enabled independently. microLED panels may potentially offer up to 5x the peak brightness than OLED panels do, though. In comparison, Mini-LED panels use a dedicated LED backlight. As its name suggests, Mini-LED panels have smaller LED backlights than conventional LED panels. The smaller size of these backlights not only means that manufacturers can include more on the same panel size, but they also give Mini-LED panels greater backlight control.

Apple is expected to release several devices next year with Mini-LED panels, including a new generation of the iPad Pro and a refreshed MacBook Pro 16. If Apple does continue to use OLED panels for the Watch Series 6, then it will be mid-2021 at the earliest before we see a microLED Apple Watch.