Earlier this week, Apple supplier ams OSRAM announced it would “re-assess its microLED strategy” after a “cornerstone project” was “unexpectedly cancelled.” Counterpoint Research’s Display Supply Chain Consultants informed MacRumors that this project related to the rumored Apple Watch with a microLED display.


Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today commented on the matter, saying that Apple has indeed canceled the project for the “foreseeable future.” The analyst said that microLED production costs are currently “too high” for the project to be “economically viable.”

“My latest survey indicates that Apple has canceled the Micro LED Apple Watch projects because Apple thinks that Micro LED can’t add significant value to this product, and the production costs are too high to make it economically viable,” said Kuo.

ams OSRAM was Apple’s exclusive LED chip supplier for the project at the time it was canceled, according to Kuo. Apple has “no plans” to mass-produce microLED devices for the “foreseeable future,” the analyst said.

Kuo described the cancelation as a “major setback” for Apple, and he said many employees involved with microLED development have been laid off.

More details to follow…

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