Apple is Close to OLED Display Deal With Samsung and LG for Future iPhones
According to a report Wednesday by ET News, Apple is close to entering into an agreement with Samsung and LG that will see both companies supply flexible OLED panels for the iPhone. The combined value of the deal is reported to be 15 trillion won ($12.8 billion).
The two Korean companies plan to spend around $12.8 billion (15 trillion won) combined to build up OLED production capacity over the next two to three years. To reduce investment costs, LG will be switching one of its existing LCD lines to manufacture OLED panels. Apple is also expected to pay for some of the equipment that will be required by LG Display and Samsung Display to increase their production capacity.
Although iOS devices have used ubiquitous liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels since their inception, organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology features deeper blacks and requires less power because it doesn’t need a power-hungry backlight module to illuminate the pixels.
OLED displays can provide sharper images and brighter colors compared to LCD displays. However, OLED displays tend to have shorter lifespans and come with higher manufacturing costs. Apple has been reportedly “consulting with display makers” on how to minimize potential drawbacks.
While the report does not talk about a specific timeframe, it does make one thing clear: the iPhone 7, due to be released in September 2016, is not going to feature an OLED display. Instead, as rumors point it is likely that we will see Apple use OLED panels on the iPhone that it will release in either 2017 or 2018 after it has solved all major technical issues with them.
The report also claims that while Apple’s agreement with LG is pretty straightforward, the negotiations between Samsung and Apple are still ongoing. While Samsung also supplies other smartphone components to Apple, it has the advantage of being the leader when it comes to OLED panels out there right now. Apple, on the other hand, wants Samsung to reduce its profit margin to single digits due to the sheer volume of its requirement.
Source : [ET News]