Prototype models of next year’s iPhone 8 are reportedly being tested in Asia. While the news item is currently being called a rumor, we do know that OLED is a big part of Apple’s plans for the 2017 iPhone.
According to a WSJ report, Asian manufacturers are being asked by Apple to churn out more of the “thinner organic light-emitting displays (OLEDs) and submit prototype screens with better resolution.” The use of the word “better” presumably means displays that are better than what Samsung currently has.
This may make the OLED variant of next year’s iPhone a little more expensive, but that’s what they need to do if they want a Galaxy Edge-type flexible screen. But the biggest problem here is that Samsung Display can make OLED screens at such scale as Apple would require, but they’re the competition! So, it’s going to be very difficult for Apple to actually get enough OLEDs, test them out and deploy them in time for next year’s iPhone launch.
Apple is trying every other possible angle, it seems. According to a Forbes report, they’ve approached LG Display, Japan Display and Sharp. But LG’s capability is limited, Japan Display is nearly bust and is looking for a bailout, and Sharp’s parent company Foxconn – Apple’s chief components maker – is moving away from OLED because of the added cost.
However, Japan Display has a technology called Full Active LCD which uses a film instead of glass. This could work for Apple if Japan Display manages to extricate itself from its financial woes. But that’s mere speculation at this point.
Another major challenge is that Apple wants embedded hardware in the screens so they can give the new iPhones a single-glass seamless look. But if they do that, then it reduces the flexibility of the panel. Catch 22!
Possibly the biggest hurdle for Apple right now is that time is running out. They likely have a firm launch date for next year’s iPhone based on the original June 29 launch of the first iPhone in 2007, but that leaves them with just 7 months to get things into shape, and start producing and stocking the phones. They could push the launch date to squeeze out a little more time, but its still cutting it thin, assuming they haven’t figured out the OLED problem yet.
In the final analysis, it looks like it could literally be a touch and go type of situation for the touch OLED screens. If they can’t work it out in time, the iPhone 8 is very likely to continue the TFT-LCD tradition for all its variants. They can still probably manage the single-glass look, but it won’t be as sharp or as bright as an OLED display.
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