Apple partner Foxconn finally seals the deal with Sharp for $3.5B

Two key Apple suppliers will officially join forces, as Foxconn has entered into a deal to purchase display maker Sharp for $3.5 billion, bringing to an end months of speculation and negotiations.

The final sale price is considerably less than the original $6.25 billion Sharp was alleged to have accepted from Foxconn. That initial offer fell through because of undisclosed liabilities of about 300 billion yen, or $2.7 billion.

Acquiring Sharp is expected to further fortify Foxconn's relationship with Apple, allowing it to sell displays to the iPhone maker as well as assembly services.

Currently, Sharp supplies LCD displays used in a number of Apple product lines, and Foxconn assembles a majority of its devices. In addition to iPhones, current iPads, and other Apple devices, Sharp is also believed to be the main supplier of Retina displays for the iPad Pro.

Looking forward, property ownership rights could become an issue for all parties involved, including Apple. The iPhone maker is thought to hold an interest in Sharp's LCD operations, having stumped for half of the 100 billion yen Sharp spent on transitioning its Kameyama LCD plant to supply for the iPhone and iPad.

With the Sharp takeover, Foxconn is expected to invest heavily in organic light emitting diode displays, or OLEDs. Apple already uses OLED technology in the Apple Watch, and just this week a new rumor claimed the company is looking to build an iPhone with OLED display as soon as 2017.

2 Comments

Herbivore2 367 comments · 8 Years

About 8 years ago

Why would a Foxcon takeover of Sharp lead to an investment into OLED technology?

Sharp is severely lacking with respect to OLED technology. Perhaps they are more advanced than it would appear. If Sharp has developed OLED technology but ran short of funding, this would make sense. However, it is doubtful that Sharp has any expertise in OLED manufacturing. Foxcon would have been better off saving their money from the purchase of Sharp and spending it instead on developing OLED on their own.

LG's technology is superior. Those guys make the panels for the Apple Watch but also make a 4K 65 inch panel that puts everything else to shame.

Samsung also makes beautiful panels for mobile devices. I myself am impatient to get my hands on an iPhone 7 with an OLED panel.

matrix077 868 comments · 9 Years

About 8 years ago

Herbivore2 said:

Why would a Foxcon takeover of Sharp lead to an investment into OLED technology?

Sharp is severely lacking with respect to OLED technology. Perhaps they are more advanced than it would appear. If Sharp has developed OLED technology but ran short of funding, this would make sense. However, it is doubtful that Sharp has any expertise in OLED manufacturing. Foxcon would have been better off saving their money from the purchase of Sharp and spending it instead on developing OLED on their own.

That's a good point. The future is slowly but surely going OLED route. Even iPhone will have OLED soon (remember Ive's "it doesn't feel right seeing all screen lit up when you just want to see some part of it" or something to that effect). My bet is this year or next iPhone will have OLED and the year after it's iPad, then the death of LCD.