14 DAY TRIAL // Apple will take the wraps off the new-generation Apple Watch Series 4 at the company’s press event on September 12, but it looks like the firm is already planning in advance a series of features.
One of them could be an always-on screen for the Apple Watch, which already exists on devices powered by WearOS or by Samsung’s Tizen, but missing from Apple’s device.
Even though it looks like such a feature has generated mixed reactions in the Apple customer base, with some people thinking it’s not necessary given the raise to wake feature of the Watch, there may be a chance that the Cupertino-based company is indeed developing it.
Living proof is believed to be a recently discovered patent that describes a technology whose purpose is to prevent screen burn-ins.
The burn-in concern
On OLED displays like the ones used by the Apple Watch, burn-ins are one of the biggest drawbacks caused mostly by certain parts of the screens being turned on for longer period of times. Apple might be looking into ways to resolve this, and one reason could be the company’s investments in an always-on feature. Apple explains in the patent (as per 9to5mac):
“Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays–which are becoming a popular choice for computing device displays–can degrade in a non-uniform manner over their lifespans and lead to unwanted color/brightness artifacts. To address this concern, burn-in statistics–which record historical usage information associated with a given OLED display–can be used to artificially adjust the operation of the OLED display to substantially restore visual uniformity throughout its operation.
Notably, such burn-in statistics can take the form of a high-resolution, multiple-channel image that consumes a considerable amount of storage space within the computing device in which the OLED display is included. For obvious reasons, this consumption can dissatisfy users as their overall expected amount of available storage space is reduced for seemingly unknown reasons. It is therefore desirable to store the burn-in statistics in a more efficient manner.”
Obviously, a patent is by no means confirmation that a certain feature or device goes into mass production, but at least it’s an indication that the company is thinking about developing such a project.