Apple has opened a secretive laboratory in Taiwan to develop new LCD and OLED screen technologies for its devices, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The new facility is said to be home to at least 50 engineers, and is situated in a “remote science park” with “no external signs of Apple”. The plant was previously used by Qualcomm, and Apple has in fact employed locals engineers from display maker AU Optronics and Qualcomm.
Bloomberg claims that the research being carried out at the facility “aims to make products thinner, lighter, brighter and more energy-efficient”. Which sounds good!
The work’s said to includes both LCD and OLED displays. OLED screens don’t need a backlight, so can be made thinner than LCDs. It’s been rumoured in the past that Apple is keen to adopt them more widely, having only so far featured one on the Apple Watch.
The report certainly lends a little weight to the idea of Apple adopting OLED. Whether it will or not, we’ll have to wait and see.