DisplaySearch estimated the flexible AMOLED display in the Apple...

DisplaySearch estimated the flexible AMOLED display in the Apple Watch costs several times more to make than equivalently sized LCD displays, and more than the more-established glass-based AMOLEDs currently used in smartphones, the company said Monday (http://bit.ly/1rycJZz). DisplaySearch estimates it costs $7.86 to produce the display for the Apple Watch, which is believed to use a 1.5-inch-diagonal AMOLED fabricated on a plastic substrate, protected by a proprietary thin and flexible solid-phase plastic seal. The touch panel interface, cover lens and other items add $19.55 to the total, DisplaySearch said. Accounting for the panel yield rate and other manufacturing costs, the total display system costs are estimated to be $27.41, it said. “Although production costs are higher, the benefits of adopting a plastic AMOLED panel include a display module that is approximately 65 percent thinner and lighter than an LCD display and 50 percent thinner and lighter than a conventional AMOLED display.” The display system’s total cost “is highly dependent on yield rates throughout the manufacturing and assembly process,” it said. “Producing high-resolution flexible AMOLED displays is challenging, due to the additional process steps required to coat the flexible substrate on a carrier glass, as well as encapsulation, and laser-lift off, which also further complicate the module manufacturing process. While current costs for the flexible AMOLED display are high, costs are forecast to continuously decline, due in large part to improving yield rates.” Apple’s choice of a plastic AMOLED as the display medium for its Watch “reflects not only its strategy of emphasizing quality, but also suggests increasing confidence in flexible displays as an enabling technology for wearable computers,” it said. The smart watch craze “is expected to spur tremendous growth in OLED display shipments this year,” DisplaySearch said. It forecasts that worldwide OLED smart watch display shipments will exceed 11 million units in 2014, for a year-over-year increase of 450 percent. Shipments of AMOLED panels for the Apple Watch alone are expected to reach 8 million units this year, as Apple builds up inventory for the 2015 launch, it said.