Micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra delayed again, to 2027

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A micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra has been talked about for a while. A Watch Ultra with an upgraded display was first rumored for 2024. It was then pushed back to 2025, 2026, and now, according to a new report 2027 or later.

A micro-LED display will be quite beneficial for the Apple Watch Ultra due to improved efficiency, brightness, color accuracy, and longevity. It doesn’t even have the same burn-in issues as OLED screens. 

It was presumed that Apple would adopt micro-LED as its next-generation display tech. However, Apple is hesitant due to the high cost of micro-LED screens, as suppliers were unable to reduce it to a more affordable range.

However, a new report from The Elec states that it would be difficult for Apple to develop a micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra within 2026. So, we may not see Watch Ultra with the new display tech until 2027 or even later.

Extremely high markup stopping micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra

However, this isn’t the first micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra prediction. 

Nikkei once suggested we could see the switch in 2018. After that, analyst Jeff Pu and Bloomberg stated it could happen in late 2024. 

After a few months, Ross Young suggested the transition would happen in 2025, and then last year, Trendforce said it had been delayed until 2026.

So, at this point, it is difficult to take The Elec’s report seriously, as it could change after a few months or even weeks. 

But the outlet says the 2027 release date is even uncertain as Apple hasn’t been able to finalize the component supply chain configuration to create micro-LEDs for Apple Watches.

The estimation was that Apple was paying $40 for each Apple Watch Ultra display, which would turn into $115-120. But The Elec says it’s more like $150. A markup like that will take the Watch Ultra’s price higher than Apple would want it to be.

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