• Opinion
Apple's reported exit dealt microLED a near-fatal blow but the technology remains appealing. Suppliers can buy time for it by reshaping microLED's market appeal and target the product to specific applications.
Apple just cancelled its microLED project. The new display technology -- getting prepard by Ams Osram -- isn't heading into these Apple smart watches. (Image: Apple)
By Peter Clarke
Late last month, Ams Osram AG (Unterpremstatten, Austria) sent out a press release saying that “a cornerstone project underpinning its microLED strategy got unexpectedly cancelled today,” thus prompting the company “to reassess its microLED strategy.” That triggered an avalanche of speculations that Apple may have just killed off the prospects for microLED technology.
I argue that Apple’s move has not killed those prospects off entirely. Ams Osram and a number of microLED startups have been undermined by Apple’s change of mind and must now adjust to a slower-moving environment.