Who needs a screen that bright on their wrist? That’s what I thought when I saw Samsung Display’s micro LED smartwatch concept CES 2025. I wasn’t allowed to touch or interact with the watch concept, but I didn’t need to to understand why it was special. Even when looking at it from a distance, I could see how much brighter the screen was compared to the standard smartwatch, making the bright Las Vegas Sphere and street lights displayed on the watch display pop.

The screen is in use Micro LEDa type of display technology that uses a set of small LEDs to display images, which usually results in better brightness. Samsung and other companies are already using the technology in their TVsbut technology has not yet made its way Wear. However, Apple was previously rumored to be working on micro LED displays for the Apple Watch but has since abandoned the initiative, according to Bloomberg.

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The watch I saw at Samsung’s Display booth was just a concept, so there’s no telling if it’ll make it to future product. Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics are separate entities; the former is a display supplier, while the latter is a consumer technology company. So just because Samsung Display has developed new display technologies doesn’t mean they will arrive in new products, as many of these advanced display types are often expensive to produce at scale.

But back to the light of this Samsung Display concept watch.

A placard near the watch indicates that its brightness is below 4,000 nits at maximum, compared to the Apple Watch Ultra 2’s 3,000-nit screen and the Pixel Watch 3’s 2,000-nit display. However, it is so bright that some parts of the image seem a bit washed out.

Samsung Display isn’t the only company exploring micro LED wearables. Taiwan-based display maker AUO is also talking about micro LED screens for its wearables website.

There’s also the question of why a bright display would be useful on the wrist, if at all. If Samsung should incorporate this technology in the future Galaxy Watch — and that’s a big if — I can see how this would make sense in a Pro or Ultra model designed for outdoor use. That bright screen is easy to see in direct sunlight, and the watch can also be used as a better flashlight in dark environments. And there may be more surprising or helpful uses besides.

I also wondered if that level of brightness would drain the battery faster, and how dark an ultrabright watch face would be, especially if you wore it while you slept.

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Although we don’t yet know if a micro LED smartwatch is on the horizon, the Samsung Display concept provides a glimpse of what’s possible from a technical standpoint. Perhaps this shows what we may see down the line as technologies become cheaper and easier to mass produce.

If Samsung’s smartwatch concept is any indication of what’s to come, the future of smartwatches could be very bright.

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