A report from Taiwan-based DigiTimes claims manufacturers shall soon begin producing the touchscreen for the ‘Apple Watch Series 3’, with the device likely to be unveiled in the third quarter of 2017 with battery life and performance improvements.
It appears that the ‘Apple Watch Series 3’ shall feature a new glass-film touchscreen in place of the current touch-on-lens solution and while it remains unclear if the switch to a film-based solution will have any obvious benefits to the consumer, supply-chain sources last year noted Apple was looking to switch from OLED to micro-LED displays for the upcoming Apple Watch, with Micro-LED displays offering benefits such as thinness, lightness, improved color gamut, increased brightness, and higher resolutions.
Later this year Apple shall unveil updates to watchOS at their annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC 17), with the company launching watchOS 3.2 beta 3 to registered developers yesterday. DigiTimes notes…
In order to return to profitability, TPK will focus on 3D sensor-based touch panels for smartphones with OLED displays in 2017 and give up production of touch panels for Apple Watch, the sources noted. Considering cost and yield rates, Apple will adopt G/F (glass-film) touch solution in place of TOL for new Apple Watch and have Taiwan-based General Interface Solution or Hong Kong-based Biel Crystal Manufactory produce the G/F touch panels, with shipments to begin in the second half of 2017, the sources indicated.