According to people familiar with the matter, Apple has ended a project aimed at designing and developing microLED displays and will cut dozens of display engineer positions in the United States and Asia.

According to media reports, Apple’s display project aims to manufacture screens using microLED technology to give the display a brighter and more vivid visual effect. It was originally planned to be applied to future versions of Apple Watch and then adapted to other products.

But people familiar with the matter said the cost and complexity of the effort were too great. As a result, Apple is now reorganizing the team that handles display engineering and cutting dozens of positions in the U.S. and Asia.

Apple had just announced that it would stop developing self-driving cars. The decision to shut down the display project was made around the same time as the decision to cancel development of self-driving cars, people familiar with the matter said. In this case, Apple will give at least some affected employees the opportunity to find other positions within the company. And if they can't get new jobs, these people will be laid off and receive severance packages. Apple currently declined to comment.

It is understood that the display project is part of Apple's efforts to design more products in-house. Although Apple has customized the displays on its products, those displays are largely based on designs from partners like LG and Samsung. By bringing more of the design process in-house, the company hopes to gain an advantage over its rivals.

Additionally, Apple sees the potential of microLED, a technology made up of millions of tiny light-emitting diodes, and wants to play a key role in its development. This technology uses less power, provides more accurate color reproduction, and allows for thinner devices. The project started within Apple's Hardware Engineering organization about seven years ago and was later transferred to Wei Chen, who was responsible for Apple's display group. The project, codenamed T159, was transferred to Apple's Hardware Technology Group a few years ago.

Apple has even built its own screen manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, California, near its Cupertino headquarters, where hundreds of employees can test the production of microLED screens. Many of the layoffs involve personnel at that location, as well as Apple's display engineering centers in Asia, people familiar with the matter said.

The Santa Clara screen manufacturing facility was still operating this week, with cars in the parking lot and a handful of employees entering and exiting the building, media reported.

When Apple laid out its plans for microLED many years ago, it viewed it as a technology to replace organic LED screens, or OLEDs. Apple expects to eventually roll out microLEDs to all of its products, from Apple Watch to iPhones to Macs.

In 2018, Apple believed it had the ability to bring microLED screens to Apple Watch as early as 2020. But that timeline was eventually pushed back to 2024, then 2025 and beyond. The situation is similar to Apple's electric car efforts, whose launch has been delayed multiple times.

Media reports indicate that although microLED screens have many advantages, they are difficult to produce in sufficient quantities. Making these screens requires cutting-edge technology and a complex process called LED transfer—the placement of pixels in the display. Although Apple owns the design and manufacturing process of microLED screens, it still needs some partners to handle tasks such as mass production and LED transfer.

In fact, news of Apple halting its microLED project emerged a few weeks ago, when a supplier revealed that microLED-related contracts had been cancelled. That includes AMS-Osram AG, which said canceling the contract would force it to lay off workers, potentially sell manufacturing plants and record a writedown that could lead to nearly $1 billion in company assets.

Currently, Apple considers OLED to be the best current solution for its smartwatches. But Apple is still considering using microLEDs in other projects in the future, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is identifying possible new suppliers and manufacturing processes that could make the technology a reality in its devices, but that may not happen anytime soon.

Apple shares rose 0.64% to $172.47 on Friday. Apple's stock price has fallen by about 10% so far this year.