Mike Wuerthele
Supply chain rumors from South Korea allege that Samsung has signed another deal for OLED screen production for future iPhones, with up to 180 million screens demanded by Apple.
According to The Korea Herald, the deal between Apple and Samsung for OLED screens was recently struck for a 2018 phone refresh in 5.28 and 6.46-inch sizes. Partly as a result of the deal, the report claims that Samsung will break ground on a new OLED factory in the South Chungcheong Province in South Korea.
"The two companies have recently signed a non-disclosure agreement on general conditions, including the screen size," un-named industry sources claimed in the report. "Other details such as screen design and functions could be adjusted considering the phone is still under development."
Several reports have circulated since 2016 about Apple and Samsung's contracts for OLED screens. The first dated back to April 2016, claimed that Samsung's display manufacturing arm would provide Apple with 100 million 5.5-inch OLED panels per year in a deal worth $2.59 billion, presumably for the "iPhone 8."
Two from 2017 appear to be the same contract. The first from February 2016 was for 60 million 5-inch screens for $4.3 billion for a future iPhone. The second was in April, and claimed that 70 million screens were ordered — but the screen sizes ordered are unclear and it may be an extension to a previous contract.
Tuesday's report may be a new order, or be gleaned from a combination or amplification of previous purchases. However, the specific sizing detailed in the new report points more to a future device than a 2018 model.
Three iPhone models are expected in a fall 2017 refresh. Between the "iPhone 7s," "iPhone 7s Plus," and "iPhone 8," only the "iPhone 8" is expected to sport an OLED screen. The contract, and the quantities said to be on order, suggest a larger amount of devices in 2018 shifting to the display technology.
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6 Comments
Good lord - we've still got the 7s and 8 to experience before the 9!
IPHONE 9??
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
Samsung will dominate OLED screen technology. It's bad news for any hardware manufacturer not named Samsung or Apple who aspire to compete at the high end.
It's back to LCD for the Pixel and the Chinese. Perhaps there is much more to Googles new focus on low cost smartphones. The problem is that Samsung is selling millions of low end Tizen based smartphones already.
Samsung won't be able to meet the demand for the iphone8. Its bad news for everyone else in the industry who want OLED panels. LG can build them in far smaller numbers. But those will be going into LG smartphones.
There's no way that LG will be able to catch up, much less AUO, JDI, Sharp, Sony and National/Panasonic, much less the Chinese.
Samsung can now put a choke hold on Android and Google. Hardware still matters. It matters a great deal. It isn't all about software. Google is going to find out the hard way. Just like Microsoft did. Commodity hardware just doesn't have the appeal that high end custom designs do.
When will the Samsung BOD ask
"Hey, we can make more money supplying Apple than we can making our own iPhone competitor. Let's can the Galaxy S range now?"
Seriously, how many S8's will they sell compared to the number of iPhone Screens they can sell to Apple?