LG Display, which supplies Apple with flexible OLED screens for the Apple Watch and LCD panels for other gadgets, is reportedly building a brand new facility that will significantly increase its OLED panel production as the firm looks to meet expected market demand as of 2017 onwards, according to a report from Korea’s Digital Times cited by DigiTimes.
The new plant will cost north of $4 billion to build, with assembly lines expected to start churning out OLED panels for smartphones, tablets and TVs sometime between 2017-2018.
The new facilities, named P10, will be located in South Korea’s Paju. A final approval and details should be known by late-November.
LG has been ramping up production and investments in OLED to meet both upcoming demand for smartphone, tablet and TV applications in addition to growing LCD capacity from China makers, the report said.
“Many rumors have stated the time frame falls in line with Apple’s reported plan to switch to OLED panels but the report did not state whether this was indeed true,” reads the report.
Indeed, ETNews recently reported that Samsung is looking to become a major provider of OLED panels for iPhones.
On the other hand, revered Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities wrote in a note to clients earlier this week that Apple will continue to use LCD screen technology in iPhones for at least three more years before making a switch to OLED screens.
iPhones and iPads have been outfitted with ubiquitous LCD IPS screens since their inception. The technology is widely praised for color accuracy and wide viewing angles compared to the more pricey OLED and AMOLED. On the other hand, OLEDs have deeper blacks and require less power because they don’t need a backlight module to illuminate the pixels.
Source: DigiTimes