Apple To Have OLED Screens From 2017 | TechTree.com

Apple To Have OLED Screens From 2017

Suppliers hint at new orders for the iPhone revamp next year.

 

To say that the iPhone needs to reinvent itself in the post-Steve Jobs era is but stating the obvious. For, sales aren’t as robust and Android and Microsoft continue to lure away diehard Apple fans via lower price points and cheaper model options provided by Chinese and Indian manufacturers.

In what appears to be first signs of things to come in the next edition of the iPhone – the iPhone 7 – manufacturers in Apple’s supply chain have hinted that they could benefit from the proposed brighter and higher-definition screens on the marquee product.

Reports published in the Fortune magazine (read it here) suggests that Applied Materials Inc. has gone on record suggesting a four-fold increase in orders for equipment that makes displays for smartphones and other computing devices.

The company’s top executives were quoted by Bloomberg wire agency, suggesting that Applied Materials would be among a handful of manufacturers for Apple’s organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). The company revealed that its OLED division had sales of a whopping USD 700 million in the second quarter – close to what they sold in an entire year last year.

This move is obviously critical from Apple’s point of view as all their iPhone models, starting off in 2007, has only come with LCD displays while their prime rival Samsung has already provided the OLED screens in their recent top-end devices such as the Galaxy S7.

What exactly are OLEDs?

So, what exactly are these new screens supposed to do that the older ones failed to do? For starters, the OLEDs allow screens to be thinner and display color much more accurately. They could also be bendable, which means one could have a curved screen iPhone sooner than later.

The screens can be thinner because the OLED screens do not require a backlight as LCD displays do and they are also more energy efficient, leading to longer battery life for the next generation iPhone.

Of course, there are challenges as well. The technology that is used to manufacture OLEDs is quite young, resulting in questionable reliability, especially over the long-lasting LCD screens. Analysts had reported that Apple stayed away till date due to paucity of manufacturers of OLED screens, given that they sell millions of iPhones each year.

Of course, Applied Materials is only one of several manufacturers that could be delivering OLED panels for iPhones next year. Reports last month (read it here) suggested that Apple had signed a mega deal with Samsung Display for supply of OLED panels while there have been rumors that LG Display too may follow suit and build panels for the American tech giant.


TAGS: Apple, Apple iPhone 7, iPhone rumours

 
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