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Composite image of Garmin Fenix 8 Pro Micro-LED smartwatch showing front face and side view for outdoor visibility (Source: Garmin)

When will the commercialization competition of Micro-LED smartwatch products become feasible?

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The development of Micro-LED-based smartwatches has continued since 2020 through prototype exhibitions, and their high brightness characteristics led to high expectations for commercialization. Previously, companies like KONKA, AUO, Innolux, and Apple had attempted development or commercialization. However, when Apple halted its own development in early 2024, the difficulties of the Micro-LED manufacturing process and high cost issues came to the fore, suggesting that commercialization of Micro-LED smartwatches would require more time.

Assorted Micro-LED smartwatch prototypes from multiple vendors

Assorted Micro-LED smartwatch prototypes from multiple vendors

However, sports smart wearable brand Garmin launched the world’s first Micro-LED smartwatch, the ‘Fenix 8 Pro’, in September this year. It is currently retailing for approximately 13,000 yuan on Chinese online shopping platforms. Garmin’s September launch sent a significant signal to the market, demonstrating that Micro-LED technology has secured commercial viability in the smartwatch sector.  Of course, there are still many areas requiring improvement. Nevertheless, beyond AUO, which is already in mass production, companies like PlayNitride, Innolux, Samsung Display, TCL CSOT, and Tianma are actively entering the market and accelerating efforts to commercialize Micro-LED smartwatches. By late 2023, AUO had already achieved mass production of Micro-LED watch panels. In its subsequent production plans, AUO’s 4.5-generation Micro-LED production line is scheduled to enter mass production this year, with products covering smartwatches and large TVs. At CES 2025, Samsung Display showcased a watch prototype (2.1 inches, 418×540 resolution, 326 ppi) developed over years of Micro-LED technology advancement. Chinese home appliance company KONKA also unveiled its Micro-LED watch, the APHAEA Watch, in 2020. The Chongqing KONKA Optoelectronics Technology Research Institute is enhancing core technologies to reduce manufacturing costs. PlayNitride has positioned smartwatches as a key growth driver this year, exhibiting a 1.39-inch smartwatch panel at Touch Taiwan 2025. This product applies high-efficiency, low-power ‘Tantium’ chip technology to achieve high resolution and 5,000 nits peak brightness, presenting a new solution that simultaneously delivers low power consumption and high image quality for wearable devices. Innolux has also developed 1.1-inch and 1.39-inch Micro-LED displays with integrated touch sensors. Tianma has established a dedicated Micro-LED research institute and is exploring new application areas like smartwatches, in addition to automotive applications.

Garmin Fenix 8 Pro Micro-LED smartwatch (Source: Garmin)

Garmin Fenix 8 Pro Micro-LED smartwatch (Source: Garmin)

Garmin has pioneered Micro-LED in smartwatches, but who will be the next contender for Micro-LED smartwatches? When will commercialization competition become feasible? Significant hurdles remain. Developed watch panels (326~338 PPI) achieve high brightness levels of 4,000~6,000 nits. However, to compete with existing OLED products, Micro-LED chip and manufacturing costs must be reduced, and power consumption characteristics must be improved. Recent announcements from Micro-LED technology companies clearly outline and are actively pursuing solutions to overcome these cost challenges. The mid-to-long-term strategy for Micro-LED smartwatches is to build integrated technological capabilities combining Micro-LED technology with health monitoring sensors. Long-term, as chip miniaturization technology matures and the advantages of sensor integration are fully realized, Micro-LED is expected to break free from its niche market limitations and expand into the broader wearable product market. UBI Research analyzed that the Micro-LED smartwatch market will fully open starting in 2028.

Namdeog Kim, Senior Analyst at UBI Research(ndkim@ubiresearch.com)

▶2025 Micro-LED Display Industry and Technology Trends Report

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Micro-LED smartwatch market forecast, 2023–2030 (Source: UBI Research)

Micro-LED Smartwatch Market Set to Bloom… Projected to Grow to $1.2 Billion by 2030

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The world’s first Micro-LED smartwatch has arrived, sparking a new wave of change in the wearable display market. While Garmin’s Fenix 8 Micro-LED is hailed as a new milestone in wearable display technology, analysis suggests a full-scale market shift will still require time.

Micro-LED smartwatch market forecast chart, 2023–2030 (Source: UBI Research)

Micro-LED smartwatch market outlook, 2023–2030 (Source: UBI Research)

Garmin’s Challenge: Achievements and Limitations

The Garmin Fenix 8 Micro-LED features a 1.4-inch display with a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, delivering overwhelming visibility in outdoor environments compared to existing OLED smartwatches. It also supports satellite messaging, solving connectivity issues in remote locations. These features have earned it significant recognition in the outdoor-focused market. However, its battery life remains inferior to existing OLED smartwatches.

Joohan Kim, an analyst at UBI Research, attributes this to reduced external quantum efficiency (EQE) in miniaturized Micro-LED chips, unoptimized drive circuit designs, and power efficiency losses due to performance variations between chips. He emphasized that overcoming these technical limitations is essential for Micro-LED’s widespread adoption.

Premium Market Expansion: TAG Heuer and Samsung Display

TAG Heuer, a luxury watch brand with strong acceptance in the high-price market, is preparing to launch a Micro-LED smartwatch. UBI Research analyzes that TAG Heuer’s entry will solidify Micro-LED’s premium image.

Additionally, Samsung Display showcased a 6,000-nit-class watch-type Micro-LED display at K-Display 2025, demonstrating its technological prowess. This panel, achieved by precisely transferring approximately 700,000 RGB chips each under 30μm, achieves a resolution of 326 PPI. Its flexible structure with 4,000 nits brightness opens possibilities for diverse designs. It is particularly evaluated for simultaneously ensuring high brightness, low power consumption, and high reliability, thanks to the characteristics of its inorganic light-emitting structure that exhibits minimal brightness and color shift with viewing angle.

The Biggest Variable: Apple’s Entry Timing

Apple Watch is the world’s largest smartwatch platform, shipping over 40 million units annually. UBI Research predicts Apple is highly likely to adopt Micro-LED in its Apple Watch Ultra series by 2027-2028. If Apple fully enters the market, this could trigger supply chain investments and large-scale mass production, potentially becoming the decisive catalyst to propel Micro-LED into mainstream technology.

Market Outlook and Supply Chain Impact

Short-term barriers include high prices and low production capacity. The Garmin Fenix 8’s $1,999 price tag is approximately $700 higher than AMOLED models, indicating a focus on the premium market rather than general consumers.

However, the entry of TAG Heuer, Samsung Display, and Apple is expected to drive significant investment and technological advancement across the entire Micro-LED supply chain. This process is expected to create ripple effects across the entire display value chain, including chip manufacturers, transfer equipment makers, driver IC companies, and back-end packaging and module assembly firms.

Joohan Kim, an analyst at UBI Research, forecasts the Micro-LED smartwatch market will grow to approximately $1.2 billion by 2030. This indicates the potential to move beyond a mere niche market, disrupt the current OLED-centric landscape, and establish itself as the new standard for premium wearables.

Micro-LED smartwatches have only just taken their first steps. Garmin’s pioneering challenge, TAG Heuer’s symbolic entry, Samsung Display’s technological competitiveness, and Apple’s potential influence will collectively propel the market onto a full-fledged growth trajectory.

UBI Research emphasizes that the pace of resolving micro-LED technical challenges and supply chain restructuring over the next five years will be the core factors determining the wearable market’s competitive landscape.

Joohan Kim, Senior Analyst at UBI Research (joohanus@ubiresearch.com)

▶2025 Micro-LED Display Industry and Technology Trends Report

Samsung Display Featured at K-Display 2025 with Micro-LEDs for Premium Watches

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Samsung Display 6,000-nit Micro-LED smartwatch showcased at K-Display 2025

Samsung Display unveils Micro-LED smartwatch at K-Display 2025, Source: Samsung Display

Samsung Display flexible Micro-LED display showcased at K-Display 2025

Samsung Display introduces flexible Micro-LED display, Source: Samsung Display

Samsung Display unveiled an innovative product at the K-Display 2025 exhibition that will change the game in the next-generation smartwatch market. The 6,000nit class smartwatch Micro-LED display presented at the show boasts the highest level of brightness of any wrist watch display announced to date. It has a resolution of 326 PPI and was achieved by precision transferring approximately 700,000 red, green, and blue (RGB) LED chips of less than 30μm in size. A Micro-LED display with a 4,000nit flexible structure that can be bent freely was also shown, presenting a variety of design possibilities. In particular, the inorganic light-emitting structure, which has high brightness, low power consumption, and high reliability at the same time, with absolutely no change in brightness and color depending on the viewing angle even when the screen is bent, is regarded as having greatly increased the competitiveness of next-generation wearable displays.

Through this exhibition, Samsung Display presented the market potential of the fusion of flexible design and Micro-LEDs together. Flexible displays go beyond simple curved surface mounting and enable a variety of form factor designs such as folding (Foldable), rolling (Rollable), stretching ( Stretchable), and can expand the range of applications to include not only smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, but also automotive and aircraft displays. Another advantage is the use of thin and light plastic substrates instead of glass to reduce thickness and weight, and to ensure durability against drop impact.

 These characteristics are also advantageous for integrated component designs such as on-sell touch and under-panel cameras, providing production efficiency and cost reduction benefits, and are strategic assets for design differentiation and brand image enhancement in the premium product market. The flexible Micro-LED display announced by Samsung Display inherits these technological and market values of flexible OLED displays and is attracting attention as a core driving force that will simultaneously drive technological superiority and premium image in the wearable display market in the future. The flexible OLED display is expected to be the core driving force for both technological superiority and premium image in the wearable display market.

Joohan Kim, Senior Analys at UBI Research (joohanus@ubiresearch.com)

▶2025 Micro-LED Display Industry and Technology Trends Report

Small OLED display shipments in 2024 are expected to increase by 200 million units compared to 2023 and exceed 1 billion units in 2025

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‘1Q25 Small OLED Display Market Track’

‘1Q25 Small OLED Display Market Track’

According to UBI Research’s ‘1Q25 Small OLED Display Market Track’, which includes application performance and outlook for smartphones, foldable phones, smartwatches, etc., small OLED shipments in 2024 are expected to reach 980 million units, an increase of approximately 200 million units from 773 million units in 2023. The small OLED market is expected to exceed 1 billion units in 2025.

Looking at the 2024 performance, most panel manufacturers in Korea and China saw an increase in shipments of 40 to 50 million units, and in particular, Chinese panel manufacturers TCL CSOT, Tianma, Visionox, and Everdisplay saw shipments increase by more than 50% compared to 2023. BOE, China’s largest panel manufacturer, saw its panel shipments increase by only about 8% due to temporary production suspensions caused by disruptions in iPhone supplies throughout the year.

Not only Chinese panel makers, but also Korean panel makers have seen a significant increase in shipments. As rigid OLED panels began to be applied to Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy A series, Samsung Display’s shipments are expected to surge from 320 million units in 2023 to 380 million units in 2024. LG Display’s smartphone OLED shipments also increased from 52 million units in 2023 to 68 million units in 2024 as its supply of panels for iPhones expanded.

With Chinese panel makers’ shipments steadily increasing, and Samsung Display’s rigid OLED shipments and LG Display’s iPhone panel shipments also increasing, small OLED shipments in 2025 are expected to easily exceed 1 billion units.

“OLEDs are being widely applied to lower-end models of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy A series and low-cost models from Chinese set manufacturers, and BOE and Visionox’s new 8.6G lines are also designed to produce panels for smartphones, so small-sized OLED shipments are expected to continue to rise for the time being,” said Han Chang-wook, Vice President of UBI Research.

Chang Wook HAN, VP/Analyst, UBI Research(cwhan@ubiresearch.com)

▶Small OLED Display Quarterly Market Track Sample

[MWC 2017] Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, HUAWEI, and TCL Compete over OLED Smart Watches

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In MWC 2017, the competition over smart watches proceeded fiercely.

The unveiling of Gear S3 by Samsung Electronics in the last IFA 2016 attracted great attention from the smart watch market. The disclosures of products that can compete with Samsung Electronics’ Gear S3 at MWC 2017 are gaining great popularity among viewers.

LG Electronics displayed G-Watch 2 Sports with 1.38-inch P-OLED and G-Watch Style with 1.2-inch P-OLED, HUAWEI exhibited HUAWEI Watch 2 and HUAWEI Watch 2 Classic with 1.2-inch AMOLED panel, and TCL showed MOVETIME with 1.39-inch AMOLED panel.

The smart watches shown by LG Electronics, HUAWEI, and TCL adopted flexible AMOLED (P-OLED) and circle types to save the designs of existing watches, and LG Electronics’ G-Watch 2 and HUAWEI’s HUAWEI Watch 2 can be used as devices independent of smartphones because they have separate sims.

LG Electronics’ G-Watch 2 Sports is equipped with 1.38-inch circle type AMOLED panel, Google Android Wear 2.0, 768MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, and 430mAh battery, and it supports IP68-level waterproof and dustproof functions and wireless charging function.

On the other hand, G-Watch 2 Style is equipped with 1.3-inch circle type AMOLED panel, Google Android Wear 2.0, 4GB internal memory, and 240mAh battery, and it supports IP67-level waterproof and dustproof functions.

HUAWEI Watch 2 is equipped with a 1.2-inch circle type AMOLED panel, Qualcomm® Snapdragon ™ Wear 2100, 1.1GHz quad-core CPU, Google Android Wear 2.0, 4GB internal memory, 768MB RAM, and 420mAh battery, and it supports various types of Watch face, an equippable Sim (4G), and IP68-level waterproof and dustproof functions.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics and HUAWEI devoted considerable spaces to the smartwatch exhibition at their booths in the MWC 2017 exhibition, and it suggests that there will be big changes in the smart watch market which is dominated by Samsung and Apple.

<G-Watch 2 Sports of LG Electronics>

<HUAWEI Watch 2 of HUAWEI.>

AMOLED Growing in Chinese Wearable Market

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GEAK Watch 3rd at SID 2016

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com
 While most of wearable products including VR (virtual reality) device and smartwatch within Chinese market are equipped with LCD display, AMOLED’s presence is growing. Although the quantity is still low, several Chinese companies are presenting AMOLED equipped new wearable products such as VR and smartwatch, fast joining the general trend.
 GEAK, a Chinese smartwatch company, is expected to release new GEAK Watch which is equipped with both AMOLED and e-ink. GEAK exhibited GEAK Watch in the CES Asia 2016 which was recently held in Shanghai, China. In CES Asia 2016, GEAK explained that the new GEAK Watch is the 3rd generation product that utilizes AMOLED in dark and e-ink display such as Kindle in bright conditions. According to the personnel the AMOLED used for the product is produced by Truly, and the release date has not yet been confirmed.
 An expert of Chinese key AMOLED panel company told OLEDNET that while there were PMOLED equipped smartwatch products in China, not many used AMOLED. It was explained that this is due to higher price of AMOLED compared to PMOLED.

DeePoon`s New VR Device ‘M2’

DeePoon, Chinese VR market leader, is expected to release new AMOLED based VR M2 soon. M2 was presented in CES Asia 2016. At the event, DeePoon explained that the company is the only one to release AMOLED VR and AMOLED can actualize higher Hz figure compared to LED installed LCD panel, and has better visual experience when playing games etc.
 Chinese key mobile AMOLED company EverDisplay (EDO) is also releasing AMOLED panel for VR from this year. This company is planning to increase ppi of VR panel each year, and produce flexible AMOLED panel for VR with over 800 ppi before 2020.
 An industry expert explained that although Korea is leading the wearable AMOLED sector, Chinese market is also recognizing that compared to LCD, AMOLED has many advantages such as faster response time and better for human eye due to lack of backlight and blue light.

[CES Asis 2016] Huawei to Release 1.2“ AMOLED Smartwatch for Women… EDO Panel Applied

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Huawei booth

Shanghai = Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Huawei is expected to release 1.2 inch AMOLED panel equipped smartwatch for women in September if early.

In CES Asia 2016 (11-13 May) held in Shanghai, China, Everdisplay (EDO) revealed that the 1.2 inch AMOLED panel product will be released in July, and Huawei will launch smartwatch for women equipped with this panel in September.

Previously Huawei released smartwatch for men equipped with EDO’s 1.4 inch AMOLED.

EDO, whose main focus is on AMOLED panel for mobile device, showed new AMOLED panels through this exhibition. EDO explained that of AMOLED panels for smartphone, 1.2 inch, 1.41 inch, and 1.4 inch panels are not yet released, and that 1.2 inch panel will be launched in July and 1.4 inch in 2017.

During this event, EDO also revealed 6 inch AMOLED panel to be mass produced in future and beta version of VR device equipped with their own AMOLED.

CES Asia 2016’s participants greatly increased compared to last year, and 375 companies from 23 countries are taking part. Major companies such as Intel, Twitter, and BMW discuss wearable, VR, driverless cars, future of TV, etc. though conference.

New Products to be Released Using Visionox’s AMOLED Display

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On Dec. 25th, Visionox announced that two products using its display panels will soon be released, including a 5.5 inch AMOLED display applied to high-end smartphone, and a 1.45 inch AMOLED display applied to smartwatch.

 

5.5 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

5.5 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

 

It is noted that the 1.45 inch AMOLED display has a display resolution of 272X340 and pixel resolution of 300 ppi, which reaches the highest pixel resolution in the domestic similar products. The thickness is less than 1 mm and the frame is only 1.5 mm. Furthermore, this display also offers MIPI and SPI interface functionality.

 

1.45 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

1.45 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

 

The smartwatch using 1.45 AMOLED display will be on sale in mainland China during the Spring Festival 2016 and the smartphone using 5.5 AMOLED display will be released to overseas market in Mar. 2016

Q2 AMOLED Market, the Largest So Far

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According to UBI Research’s Weekly OLED Analysis Report, Q2 AMOLED panels recorded the largest shipment and sales so far. With 56 million units, the Q2 shipment increased by 35% in comparison with Q1, and a 19% increase compared to the same period last year. US$ 2,800 million was recorded for sales, which is a 65% increase compared to its previous quarter.

 

Last quarter’s AMOLED market growth is due to Samsung Display’s AMOLED panel supply volume for Chinese set companies and increase in LG Display’s flexible OLED panel production for smartwatch.