Apple wants to stop relying on manufacturers A and B. So they develop a new display and the requisite manufacturing process. But then they are going to have manufacturer C take over? What?
It’s one thing to rely on someone for manufacturing than to rely on someone for research/design/patents and manufacturing. In theory once Apple gets this project up and going they can have multiple manufacturers (if they want) and they would always have the option to manufacturer in house in the future.
It’s like their CPUs and TMSC versus using a Qualcomm Snapdragon. Sure, TMSC is manufacturing Apple Silicon, but Apple always has the option to port their design to a competitors node process or even spin up their own fab if needed (highly unlikely but possible).
MicroLED tech is exciting. In theory it has most of the benefits of OLED (per pixel light control = crazy high contrast) and none of the downsides (burn in). They also claim to have better colours, lifespan and lower energy consumption than OLED. It will be neat to see the tech finally commercialized in the consumer space.