As Barron's reported this morning, Gabelli & Co. analyst Hendi Susanto and Universal Display executive Darice Liu speculated that AMOLED display might be limited to a “specialized edition” of an 'iPhone 8' (also referred to as '2017 iPhone' and 'Tenth Anniversary iPhone') until suppliers are able to meet Apple's needs for a full rollout.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo—who has a decent, but not stellar track record in predicting future Apple products—just issued a peculiar note to clients regarding the future of Apple's iPad lineup.
In the note, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors, the well-connected analyst does not expect any major refreshes to iPads in this year.
But for 2017, the analyst is calling for three new models: a brand new 10.5-inch iPad Pro size joining a second-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a low-cost 9.7-inch iPad. These devices are predicted to be followed by a “revolutionary” iPad model in 2018 that should bring “radical changes” in form factor design and user behavior while adopting flexible AMOLED panels, which so-called Tenth Anniversary iPhone is expected to gain in 2017.
LG Display, one of the Asian companies that provide screens for Apple products, yesterday announced plans to spend an additional 1.99 trillion won, or about $1.75 billion, on its sixth-generation “P9” flexible OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) production line in Paju. More OLED facilities are coming soon in Paju and Gumi, LG said.
LG Display will jack up investment on next-generation mobile screens based on Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) technology as its top customer Apple Inc. prepares to adopt these ultra-thin, power-saving screens for iPhones “as early as 2017,” Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, recently won a deal with Apple to supply its high-quality OLED panels for use in the next iPhone and now the South Korean company is spinning off its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) unit, The Korea Times reported Monday.
Samsung Display reported a 270 billion won (about $235.2 million) operating loss during the first quarter of this year due to the struggling LCD business and strong competition from Chinese makers of low-cost LCDs for mobile devices.
LG Display, Japan Display, AU Optronics, Samsung Display and Foxconn-owned Sharp are all said to share production of AMOLED panels for future iPhones, with Samsung alone providing an estimated 240 million AMOLED units in the next three years beginning in 2017, DigiTimes Research predicted yesterday.
Samsung is the world's top producer of AMOLED panels. When deployed to the iPhone, this technology will result in crisper colors, deeper blacks, increased brightness, high visibility under direct sunlight and reduced power consumption.
Many in the rumor-mill agree that Apple is planning to build an iPhone around the brighter, more power efficient AMOLED screen tech. New clues of 2017 bringing a major change to the iPhone's display technology appeared with news this morning that the world's top maker of display-making equipment, Applied Materials, reported an almost fourfold leap in orders for OLED production machinery.
Hot on the heels of a reported $3.5 billion acquisition of Sharp by Apple's contract fabricator Foxconn, Sharp has reportedly begun setting up production lines dedicated to churning out AMOLED smartphone panels as Apple is said to be lining up suppliers to support its major move to outfit future iPhones with AMOLED screen technology.
According to a report Wednesday by DigiTimes, a Taiwanese trade publication, Sharp is setting up three production lines that should have total monthly capacity of 9.85 million 5.5-inch equivalent AMOLED panels.
Last month, supply chain sources claimed Apple was working to launch a 5.8-inch iPhone featuring rigid AMOLED display panels some time in 2017.
And now, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said pretty much the same thing in his most recent analysis issued to clients yesterday, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider.
The device should have a curved glass casing similar to the design of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s and a “completely new form factor design” with narrow bezels providing a “more comfortably grip.”
Citing Taiwan-based Apple supply chain makers, Taiwanese publication DigiTimes wrote in a pre-publication note yesterday that Apple is planning a huge iPhone model with a 5.8-inch screen based on the superior AMOLED display technology.
Apple is reportedly rumored to “have plans to launch a 5.8-inch iPhone featuring rigid AMOLED display panels in 2018 or even earlier in 2017,” reads the note. Currently, Apple's iPhone 6/6s series is offered in two screen sizes—4.7 and 5.5 inches—while the older iPhone 5s and the upcoming 'iPhone SE' address the market segment for four-inch smartphones.
A report Wednesday by ET News contends that Apple is “close” to signing a definitive supply agreement with both Samsung Display and LG Display concerning OLED screens for future iPhones.
Although iOS devices have used ubiquitous liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels since their inception, organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology features deeper blacks and requires less power because it doesn't need a power-hungry backlight module to illuminate the pixels.
Samsung, which uses AMOLED screens in many of its flagship smartphones and tablets, could become a major provider of OLED panels for the iPhone maker as a deal is all but secured, according to an ETNews report Friday citing a Samsung Display employee.
The report arrives hot on the heels of a research note that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sent to clients earlier this week, in which he estimated that Apple won’t be switching to AMOLED screens for iPhones anytime soon and will continue using the existing LCD display technology for at least the next three years.