Like rumors about Apple’s augmented reality efforts continues to heat up, a new report claims that Apple has entered into a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to develop and produce sophisticated micro OLED displays for use in the future AR headset.
Conformable Nikkei Asia, Apple is deepening its relationship with TSMC – the manufacturer responsible for making the A-series and M-series chips used on new iPhones and Macs – to produce micro OLED displays designed for use on AR devices.
A source with information about Apple’s micro OLED efforts told Nikkei Asia that the reason Apple chose TSMC over a traditional display manufacturer such as Samsung or LG is that “pRing players are good at enlarging larger and larger screens, but when it comes to thin and light devices such as AR glasses, you need a very small screen. Apple is working with TSMC to develop the technology, as the chip maker’s expertise makes things very small and good, while Apple also leverages the expertise of panel experts on display technologies. ”
This one it appears that TSMC will use some of its existing chip manufacturing to begin early production on these screens, while working on building additional production lines with Apple, which has a research laboratory in Taoyuan, Taiwan (just minutes away from the advanced TSMC chip packing and testing facility).
The Nikkei Asia source claims that Apple’s micro OLED project has now reached the test production stage, with a complete mass production still a few years away. This would suggest that, despite rumors that Apple could launch some kind of AR headset at the end of 2021 or 2202, Apple’s big push in AR / VR will not happen until closer to 2023 or later.
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When it comes to AR devices, micro OLED is seen as one of the next big leaps in technology on the OLED and LCD screens used in current devices. The great advantage of micro OLED is that the diodes can be built directly on top of the silicon wafers, instead of requiring an additional glass or plastic substrate, which allows for a lower thickness and increased energy efficiency.
However, it seems that Apple is still trying to decide its final formPossible AR headphones. Recent reports claim that Apple is testing several models for separate AR and VR goggles, and the latter can be set to include dual 8K displays.
However, before Apple releases a headset to the table, its technology must first be discovered, which seems to be exactly what Apple is doing by strengthening its partnership with TSMC.