According to a new report from Korea, LG is demanding compensation from Apple for the Cupertino company’s cancellation of its order for MicroLED panels for the Apple Watch Ultra. The MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra was rumored for a couple of years before it was reported in March that Apple had canceled its order for MicroLED panels.
This order apparently came from Osram, but now LG also seems to have been involved, and the Korean company is not taking this lightly: It wants Apple to pay for the “suspension” of the MicroLED project for the Apple Watch.
LG was preparing to perform the “MicroLED backplane process at Apple’s unofficial request,” the report said. But then, as we already knew, “Apple effectively canceled the project to develop a MicroLED Apple Watch.”
LG invested “tens of billions” of Korean won in the project. One billion won is equivalent to about 730,000 US dollars. A high double-digit billion amount would therefore be a maximum of about 65 million US dollars.
LG apparently relocated some devices, secured space for the MicroLED backplane process at one of its plants, hired workers, and formed a task force. Several of LG’s suppliers were also preparing to deliver devices. As a result of Apple’s cancellation of the project, LG disbanded its task force, incurring high costs to secure space and personnel for the MicroLED backplane process.
Interestingly, Korean industry analysts speculate that if Apple were to compensate LG for all this, it would most likely pay the Korean company a little more for the OLED panels it buys from LG for iPhones and iPads. This is because Apple never publicly announced that it was developing a MicroLED Apple Watch, nor did it later cancel the project.
Source (in Korean)
