The Apple Watch Series 10 will get a new display, with a report claiming changes will be made to the OLED panel that could extend the battery life.
Apple Watch Series 9
The advanced display of the Apple Watch has helped reduce the power consumption of the wearable over time. For the Series 10 device, it may get a newer one that could save even more power.
Tuesday's report from The Elec claims that Apple will be using a new low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology in the OLED display of the Series 10, which the report believes will be out later in 2024.
The use of LTPO TFT so far has only been applied to some switching TFTs in the Apple Watch display panel, with the older LTPS used for other switching TFTs and driving TFTs. Under the new version, LTPO will be used on more of the TFTs, including the driving TFTs.
LTPS will apparently still be used, but only on remaining TFTs and circuits outside the viewable pixel area.
The change is being keenly observed by display producers, due to the potential for the increased use of the newer technology to be expanded to other devices, such as the iPhone. Apple previously used LTPO on the Apple Watch before applying it to the iPhone, and it could follow the same pattern again.
For the iPhone 16, the Pro and Pro Max models are expected to use LTPO TFTs, but all four iPhone 17 models could use the technology.
While The Elec isn't that strong when it comes to product feature rumors, it does tend to do well when it comes to supply chain stories. Given the subject matter, it seems more likely than not that Apple would investigate increased LTPO TFT usage in this way.