There have been swirling rumours in the market this week about the plans of Apple in choosing displays for its next generation iPhone. Over recent weeks, most commentators have been saying that the company was going to adopt flexible OLEDs from Samsung and we have reported news reports from Korea that suggested that Apple has already ordered as many as 160 million displays from Samsung. However, now, Trendforce has gone as far as to put out a press release that claims that ‘based on information from the supply chain’, Apple will not use a curved display because of issues with yield.
Separately, there are reports from Bloomberg that Apple is testing panels from BOE as a possible supplier for the future. Bloomberg believes that there might not be enough capacity to meet all of Apple’s ideal demand which may limit the range of models in the range that could use OLED.
Analyst Comment
Frankly, it would be surprising if Apple wasn’t looking at OLEDs from anyone, to understand, at least, how far each company has got in trying to develop the technology. However, it seems very unlikely to us that Apple would use a Chinese supplier as anything except as an emergency source.
Now, if we are going to look at the supply chain, although the Taiwanese gossip channel is often fun, we turn to IHS Markit. Jerry Kang of IHS has said that he sees things a bit differently. Kang believes that Apple will adopt flexible OLEDs not to have a curved edge device (which, anyway, might just look like a Samsung Edge copy) but because the flexible displays are incredibly thin and in the battle between sleek designs and battery life, millimetres are ‘life and death’. A second advantage of the flexible form factor is that the bezel area can be reduced by bending the edges of the display, while leaving the display area flat. That means a better ratio between the front of the phone and the display, a real advantage and a strong trend in the market. (BR)
