The OLED display on the Apple Watch Ultra could be short-lived.
In a research note, Jeff Pu, an analyst at the Hong Kong investment firm Haitong International Securities, said that Apple could be looking to use a different display technology for the second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra, Apple's rugged smartwatch. According to the note, which was seen by MacRumors, Pu says that Apple will drop the OLED technology in favor of a micro-LED display.
The analyst says that, with micro-LED, the Apple Watch Ultra's display would be even brighter than it already is. The current Apple Watch Ultra, which features OLED technology, reaches up to 2000 nits of brightness, the same as the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The Apple Watch Ultra display could also get bigger
In addition to switching out OLED for micro-LED, Pu says that Apple is looking to increase the size of the display on the Apple Watch Ultra as well. According to the analyst, the second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra will feature a 2.1-inch display, about a .2-inch increase over the 1.92-inch display currently featured on the first generation that the company launched this year.
These rumors are interesting and, after thinking about it, I'm not sure what difference these changes, if true, will really have for Apple Watch Ultra users.
The OLED display, while not as bright as micro-LED, is already able to reach a peak brightness of 2000 nits, twice that of the regular Apple Watch models and the same brightness of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. That's been plenty bright for me, so I'm not sure I'd need an even brighter Apple Watch.
An increase in the size of the display is always welcome but, with the Apple Watch Ultra, I think it's only a good move if Apple can make that happen without increasing the total size of the watch housing itself. The Ultra is already a big boi, so making an even larger watch will make it even less appealing to some.
The current rumors predict that the next generation of the Apple Watch Ultra won't come out until 2024, so we have some time to run through the rumor mill.
