Apple Watch Ultra (2026) could sport a larger mini-LED screen and a bigger price tag

Yes, it might seem a bit early to contemplate buying the 2026 Apple Watch Ultra, but on the other hand, it never is too early to start thinking about the purchase of a new Apple device. Surely some of you out there are already thinking about the A21 Pro chipset that could be powering the iPhone 19 series. That application processor could be produced by TSMC using a 1.4nm process node that the world's-largest foundry, TSMC, just mentioned as the node that might follow 2nm.

According to TrendForce (via 9to5Mac), the 2026 Apple Watch Ultra will carry the first micro-LED display replacing the OLED screen currently used by the timepiece. The micro-LED displays will be thinner and lighter than the current OLED panels, consume less power, and allow the watch to be brighter. Originally expected to appear on an Apple Watch Ultra in 2025, the yield rate on the production of micro-LED panels has been low enough to get Apple concerned that it might not be able to obtain a steady supply of such screens.

Getting the yield to improve is important to Apple since it eventually plans on using micro-LED on other devices including the iPhone. And since a low yield means paying a higher price for each panel that passes quality control, a one-year delay is what the doctor ordered at the very least.

TrendForce also expects Apple to increase the size of the Apple Watch Ultra in 2026 to 2.12 inches from the 1.91-inch displays currently used on both the 2022 and 2023 versions of the Apple Watch Ultra. So yes, the 2026 Apple Watch Ultra will be the first of Apple's premium smartwatches to have a screen size larger than 2 inches. That works out to an 11% increase in screen real estate for the Apple Watch Ultra in 2026.

A price increase could also accompany the new display on the Apple Watch Ultra in 2026 since TrendForce computes that the micro-LED display will cost 2.5 to 3 times more than the current Apple Watch Ultra screen which will raise the cost to $120 per display from the $40 to $48 that Apple now pays. The result will be an additional $72 to $80 that Apple will either eat or pass on to consumers in the form of a price hike.