Samsung reportedly urging Apple to switch to OLED panel for iPhone

Shawn Knight

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Staff member

Samsung is in a peculiar position as it relates to the iPhone. As a supplier of mobile components for Apple, Samsung is one of the Cupertino-based company’s biggest cheerleaders – the more iPhones sold, the more money the South Korean electronics giant takes home.

And if the latest rumors prove accurate, a display deal with Apple could see Samsung (and LG) earn even more cash from the iPhone.

As BGR notes, there have been three separate reports over the past few weeks indicating Apple will be moving from the LCD screen it uses in the iPhone to an OLED panel. Apparently the jump won’t happen with next year’s iPhone 7 or the following year’s iPhone 7s but rather, with the iPhone 8 in 2018.

OLED panels offer a number of advantages over LCD panels including better power efficiency, improved contrast, sharper images and brighter / more saturated colors. LCDs, on the other hand, are cheaper to mass produce which may explain why Apple has stuck with them thus far and will apparently continue to do so over the next couple of years.

Apple already has a bit of experience with OLED panels as the Apple Watch relies on such a display.

Curiously enough, the trio of rumors already has existing Apple display suppliers on edge. Investors are taking note as well as share value in companies like Minebea and Japan Display have dipped on the news.

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LCDs, on the other hand, are cheaper to mass produce which may explain why Apple has stuck with them thus far and will apparently continue to do so over the next couple of years.

I'm telling you, Apple has stuck with them cause they wanted to deliver cheap, affordable phones... /end sarcasm

In a world where one can get a 5,5" display phone with an octa core and everything else Apple offers for a quarter of the price, it's more apparent than ever that you're being robbed. Should O-LEDs ever make it to the iPhone, you'd probably have to shell out the dreaded four-figure amount for their top of the line product.
 
LCDs, on the other hand, are cheaper to mass produce which may explain why Apple has stuck with them thus far and will apparently continue to do so over the next couple of years.

I'm telling you, Apple has stuck with them cause they wanted to deliver cheap, affordable phones... /end sarcasm

In a world where one can get a 5,5" display phone with an octa core and everything else Apple offers for a quarter of the price, it's more apparent than ever that you're being robbed. Should O-LEDs ever make it to the iPhone, you'd probably have to shell out the dreaded four-figure amount for their top of the line product.
But by the same token, in the year 2018 all high end phones are bound to be in the 4 figure ballpark, not just Apples.
As for me, midrange phones are the bees knees, they can do everything a high end device can do without any unpleasant surprises and most still retain the removable battery and micro SD. How many high end phones can brag about that today? Not very many but come 2018, who can say what the landscape will look like...
 
LCDs, on the other hand, are cheaper to mass produce which may explain why Apple has stuck with them thus far and will apparently continue to do so over the next couple of years.

I'm telling you, Apple has stuck with them cause they wanted to deliver cheap, affordable phones... /end sarcasm

In a world where one can get a 5,5" display phone with an octa core and everything else Apple offers for a quarter of the price, it's more apparent than ever that you're being robbed. Should O-LEDs ever make it to the iPhone, you'd probably have to shell out the dreaded four-figure amount for their top of the line product.
But by the same token, in the year 2018 all high end phones are bound to be in the 4 figure ballpark, not just Apples.
As for me, midrange phones are the bees knees, they can do everything a high end device can do without any unpleasant surprises and most still retain the removable battery and micro SD. How many high end phones can brag about that today? Not very many but come 2018, who can say what the landscape will look like...
Which phones are these? My nexus 5 needs replacing, and $850 is a lot of money. replaceable battery is a must
 
I'm always surprised that Apple missed this display technology trick, instead of relying on 'upgrading' the OS so that older devices slow down they could have used fading OLED displays to build-in obsolescence at the hardware level.
 
LCDs, on the other hand, are cheaper to mass produce which may explain why Apple has stuck with them thus far and will apparently continue to do so over the next couple of years.

I'm telling you, Apple has stuck with them cause they wanted to deliver cheap, affordable phones... /end sarcasm

In a world where one can get a 5,5" display phone with an octa core and everything else Apple offers for a quarter of the price, it's more apparent than ever that you're being robbed. Should O-LEDs ever make it to the iPhone, you'd probably have to shell out the dreaded four-figure amount for their top of the line product.
But by the same token, in the year 2018 all high end phones are bound to be in the 4 figure ballpark, not just Apples.
As for me, midrange phones are the bees knees, they can do everything a high end device can do without any unpleasant surprises and most still retain the removable battery and micro SD. How many high end phones can brag about that today? Not very many but come 2018, who can say what the landscape will look like...
Which phones are these? My nexus 5 needs replacing, and $850 is a lot of money. replaceable battery is a must
I'd personally recommend the LG G4, QHD IPS LCD screen (better than OLED IMO), hexacore processor, 32GB, replaceable battery, SD card slot, all for less than $400.
 
I'm always surprised that Apple missed this display technology trick, instead of relying on 'upgrading' the OS so that older devices slow down they could have used fading OLED displays to build-in obsolescence at the hardware level.

This is why I don't like OLED. I don't switch smartphone every year and even if that was the case, I'm always using a flagship from the previous generation. I learned that the hard way with a galaxy nexus that I used almost 2 years.
 
Great news! hopefully Apple will start using OLEDs since that means prices will go down and I can get an awesome new android OLED phone :p

Techspot...still waiting sales figures on the Note 5!! :D
 
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