the rumours of apple mass producing its own microled displays for iphones is back the company is reportedly getting into the mass production of nextgeneration displays to reduce its dependency on rival samsung and increase its own control over the supply of a key component according to a report in nikkei asia the report cites sources display is one of the most expensive components in all of apples devices since apple first introduced oled displays in iphones in 2017 with iphone x the companys reliance on samsung display for the screens has only increased samsung is one of the biggest display suppliers for apple to reduce this dependence and gain higher pricebargaining power apple got in other suppliers namely lg display and chinese display maker boe technology however these component makers reportedly could not match the south korean leader in terms of technology and quality stability in addition to designing the driver integrated circuits for the microled screens apple even designed some of the production equipment itself to better control the mass transfer process according to two of the people with direct knowledge of the matterthe report adds that apple has spent heavily on the development of microled displays over the past decade and once production starts it intends to perform the critical mass transfer step of the manufacturing process itself the mass transfer step involves moving at least tens of thousands of tiny microled chips onto substrates this process will reportedly be carried out at apples secretive rd facilities in the longtan district in the northern taiwanese city of taoyuan incidentally apple is said to have been investing in microled technologies for years importance of microled displaysmicroled displays are less powerhungry and can be made thinner than organic lightemitting diode oled displays they are also said to offer better outdoor brightness performance and can be used on curved or foldable surfaces apple has spent at least 1 billion on the rd and samples for microled technologies in the past nearly 10 years said one of the people who reportedly has been directly involved in the project for years it wants to secure more control over the nextgen display technologies for its future productsmicroled chips are also said to be at least 100 times smaller than the components used in led lighting products and one production method involves fabricating them directly on wafers still at experimental stagethe report said that apples microled technology is still at the sample stage the company plans to introduce the screen technology on its apple watch first the tentative target to have the technology ready is claimed to be 2025