Apple’s recent $43 million acquisition of display company LuxVue suggests that the iWatch could land with a rather special screen, and it’s all down to its LEDs.
LuxVue’s display technology uses micro-LEDs as opposed to traditional LEDs.
Standard LEDs emit a bright white light which is filtered to strip away unwanted colours. Micro-LEDs differ in that they emit two red, two blue and two green hues at every pixel.
The end result is a screen that’s up to nine times brighter than ones that use conventional LEDs. Better yet, the battery requirements are actually lower too.
Patently Apple has also uncovered a series of patents by LuxVue which outline how sapphire glass screens can also increase brightness while lowering battery consumption.
A LuxVue partner has also stated that its micro-LED technology could be applied on curved substrates, which would be ideal for a curved iWatch with a display that wraps around your wrist.
Coupled with potential sunlight-beating brightness and increased battery life – two very important factors in smartwatch design – the iWatch could arrive with the best smartwatch screen we’ve seen yet.
Of course patents don’t always come to fruition, and it might be too late for Apple to utilise micro-LEDs for the first generation of the iWatch, but that’s not stopping us from being any less excited.
Source: Patently Apple