Mike Wuerthele
Sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that Sharp is investing 1 trillion yen into OLED screen production, more than a month after reports circulated that it was planning to do so.
According to The Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter confirmed the giant OLED investment which was first reported in early January. The deal looks to be aimed squarely at selling the screens to Apple, as the investment will be centered on production at Foxconn's Zengzhou facility.
The investment is notably larger than the $568 million bet on OLED Sharp has originally announced in September 2016.
Foxconn is already Apple's main assembly partner, but an investment this late in the game probably won't produce screens in time for a September OLED iPhone launch in any quantity. The first OLED-equipped iPhones are expected to ship in 2017, using Samsung-made panels.
Apple is believed to be working on three iPhone models for this fall. The model likely to shift to OLED, the "iPhone 8," may boast a curved display with a glass back, some form of wireless charging, a 3d facial recognition sensor.
An oft-rumored features of the "iPhone 8" includes the FaceTime camera, earpiece and Touch ID fingerprint sensor embedded beneath the display — a move which would be facilitated by the flexible and thin OLED screen technology.
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9 Comments
Samsung is so far ahead everyone else, it is going to take a major setback or a new technology development to displace them.
While the others are getting started, Samsung is now working on raising efficiencies and lowering costs of production. Samsung will continue to offer the best combination of lowest cost and high quality panels for some time. They make outstanding components. Unless Foxconn is willing to take losses on their upcoming panels, Samsung will be getting Apple's business for a long time. And Cook would be smart to do so. It will keep OLED panel prices higher for the rest of the market. Such that the Pixel from Google will be seriously disadvantaged.
Good for Apple. More OLED panel manufacturers come on board, better of every phone manufacturers are. Now that the long term direction is set for replacing LCD panels, more funding will pour into making OLED. Don't discount LG(and Chinese OLED makers) who is making OLED panels sometime for TVs/phones also plan to invest heavily into next gen OLED panels. Interestingly, 2018 iphone 8 is over one and half year down the road, so don't discount if all iPhone models move to OLED in 2018 release.
How many OLED rumours have we had now over the years?
How many have come to fruition?
It just goes to show that Apple isn't interested in OLED because it is a crap technology. If it actually lived up to its tech specs don't you think that Apple would be using it by now? Instead Apple keeps going back to a different screen technology.
I've used all manner of phones with OLED and they certainly have NOT lived up to the hype. Frankly I don't see why these rumours keep persisting other than to prop up OLED manufacturers' stocks.