A new report from Korea states that LG is seeking compensation from Apple for cancelling its order for microLED display panels for the Apple Watch Ultra.
According to reports, the order was initially made from LG for a microLED Apple Watch Ultra project that Apple dropped early this year. Well, it looks like LG isn’t letting this go and now wants payment for the panels that it had already started working on.
LG was reportedly carrying out preparations for the “microLED backplane process at Apple’s unofficial request” and had spent “tens of billions of Korean won on the project. For clarification, 1 billion won is about KES 94 million, so tens of billions would have been close to KES 940 million if not more.
The report goes on to claim that LG had repurposed some space in one of its plants for the microLED backplane process, recruited labour and created a task force. The company even had some of its suppliers prepared to deliver equipment for manufacture at the time.
So, it’s clear to see that the project had incurred significant costs and why LG would insist on seeking recompense for a project that got cancelled.
It’s not clear whether Apple will compensate LG for this, but it’s speculated that the American firm would most likely pay through the OLED panels it already buys from the Korean firm for its iPhones and iPads. So this would mean Apple paying a little bit more for those panels.
