LCD

3D Touch component costs for iPhone 8 to double vs iPhone 7

Apple is paying between $7 and $9 per unit for iPhone 7's 3D Touch components, but that price is expected to triple for the firm's rumored OLED-based iPhone 8 model to between $18 and $22.

The 150 percent price increase, according to a report in the Chinese-language Economic Daily News cited by DigiTimes, stems from the fact that pressure sensors for OLED displays require a separate protective glass bonding on both the front and rear of the display panel.

“Due to the additional bonding of glass covers, overall processing cost for OLED-based 3D Touch solution is about 50 percent higher than that for the LCD-based one but the quotes for the client is about 150 percent higher,” reads the report.

Taiwanese touch panel makers TPK Holdings and General Interface Solution act as suppliers of 3D Touch parts for existing LCD-based iPhones. Both TPK and General Interface Solution should be the sole suppliers of iPhone 8's enhanced 3D Touch components as well.

Apple has accepted the price increase, according to Economic Daily News.

iPhone 7's 3D Touch module, as mentioned before, directly bonds pressure sensors on the LCD display panel. For OLED display technology, TPK's 3D Touch solution entails bonding of a glass cover on the front and back side of an OLED panel each “to reinforce the fragile panel.”

TPK has reportedly passed certification for its OLED-based 3D Touch solution for iPhone 8. The company now expects to obtain significant orders from Apple.

WSJ: Japan Display creating flexible LCD panels for 2018 iPhones

iPhone display supplier Japan Display has devised new manufacturing processes for mass production of flexible liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. According to a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Apple is considering using flexible LCD panels in iPhones launching in 2018 and beyond.

This is an interesting development in light of rumors that iPhone 8 will be equipped with a flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen. While not as flexible as curved OLED panels, Japan Display's new processes do allow for the creation of bendable LCDs that support designs like Samsung's curved-screen Galaxy Edge series.

Samsung seeks arbitration against Sharp and other LCD panel makers over supply halt

Samsung Electronics has filed a request for international arbitration against Sharp and two other LCD panel makers over supply panel halt, The Korea Herald reported Friday.

Owned by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, Sharp said recently it would stop supplying LCDs to Samsung.

The Galaxy maker is now seeking $492 million in compensation from Sharp and other vendors, said industry sources. Samsung reportedly filed its request with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Apple suppliers Foxconn and Sharp could build $8 billion LCD plant in USA

Apple's key suppliers—iPhone assembler Foxconn and its Japanese subsidiary Sharp—say that rumored plans calling for establishing an LCD manufacturing plant in the United States are “still on the table”. Company officials made that comment in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's “Make in America” call, Japanese outlet Nikkei reported Friday.

An unnamed Sharp executive told Nikkei that such a decision must be made “carefully”.

Apple could slash prices of next year’s 4.7″ and 5.5″ iPhones with legacy LCD technology

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is on a roll this morning with a litany of reports pertaining to Apple's next-generation 2017 iPhone refresh. According to another note issued to clients this morning, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider, Kuo says he expects the Cupertino firm to slash prices of both 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone models next year.

That's because those iPhones are expected to continue using legacy LCD technology. By lowering prices for those models, Apple might potentially regain some of the market share lost to more affordable Android handsets.

Report: Apple working on advanced screen display tech that’s thinner, brighter, and lighter

A late evening report from Bloomberg's Tim Culpan has shed a bit of light on Apple's plans regarding the future of its display technology for iPhones, iPads, and other devices. Culpan's report shows that Apple has opened a secret lab within a Taiwanese science park, and has no less than 50 engineers working on advanced versions of LCD and OLED display technology.

Apple's goal, according to the report, is to create screens that are thinner, lighter, brighter, and more energy-efficient than the screen technology used in current production iPhones and iPads. The report emphasized Apple's keen interest in OLED technology in particular, since it requires no backlight, a fact that can help meet the improvements in energy efficiency and thinness that the Cupertino firm is seeking.

Next iPhone could be even thinner and lighter thanks to smaller LED backlighting chips

In its never-ending quest of engineering ever thinner and lighter devices, Apple is said to use smaller LED backlighting chips that could, at least theoretically, make the next iPhone(s)—you guessed right— smaller and lighter.

Citing a TrendForce report, DigiTimes said Tuesday that next-generation ‘iPhone 6s’ and ‘iPhone 6s Plus’ will adopt smaller LED chips for the display's backlight unit. The new chips reportedly measure three mm wide, 0.85mm tall and 0.4mm deep versus the 3.0mm x 0.85mm x 0.6mm chips used in the present-generation iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices.

Apple going back to Samsung as LCD panel supplier

It appears that the bad blood between Apple and Samsung isn't enough to keep the two from working together. Despite previous reports that the iPad-maker is trying to distance itself from its rival, it has reportedly returned a large chunk of its LCD panel business back to Samsung...

Samsung denies cutting LCD supply to Apple

A newspaper report yesterday by a South Korean media outlet spread like a wildfire across the blogosphere. It has been asserted that Samsung, Apple's fierce rival in mobile and its major supplier of components, will cease selling displays to the Cupertino, California iPhone maker, reportedly because Samsung's components arm dubbed Samsung Display no longer sees Apple as “a cash-generator due to the iPhone maker’s stiffer supply-chain management structure”. Now it appears Samsung has basically denied the story and asked The Korea Times newspaper to revise its false report...

Samsung said to end LCD sales to Apple

More fallout from Apple's patent lawsuit win against Samsung: the South Korean company's LCD arm will stop selling displays to the Cupertino, California iPhone maker. The reason? Samsung Display no longer sees Apple as "a cash-generator due to the iPhone maker's stiffer supply-chain management structure," a South Korean newspaper reports.

"We are unable to supply our flat-screens to Apple with huge price discounts," a senior Samsung source was quoted Monday. To make up for the lost business, both Samsung's own handset unit and Amazon are upping their orders from Samsung Display, the source said...

Retina display supplier Samsung, others settle price fixing suit for $1.12B

Apple's key components provider Samsung which supplies, among other items, Retina panels for the new iPad, agreed along with other defendants to settle a price fixing class-action lawsuit for a whopping $1.12 billion.

Samsung has agreed to pay $240 million, AU Optronics will pony up $170 million, Toshiba will pay only $21 million and LG Display will settle for $380 million in damages.

This settlement - the largest consumer class-action price-fixing settlement ever - is in addition to previous settlements from ten manufacturers and prison terms for some executives, The Wall Street Journal reported...