Apple suppliers battle it out over iPhone’s AMOLED displays

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iPhone 6s
The battle to build AMOLED iPhone displays is on!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Two Apple partners, Foxconn and Samsung, are battling it out to provide Apple with next-gen displays for future iPhones.

Samsung, a leader in OLED display research and AMOLED production, is reportedly “on the fast track” to building a dedicated facility with the sole purpose of supplying the high-quality displays to Apple.

Foxconn, meanwhile, recently acquired money-losing display maker Sharp, with the main impetus being to help Foxconn become a market leader in AMOLED panel production.

According to a new report, Sharp will set up one 4.5G and two 6G AMOLED production lines, with monthly capacity of 13,000, 11,500 and 34,500 glass substrates — which means a massive total monthly capacity of 9.85 million 5.5-inch displays.

Following Foxconn’s cash injection, the Foxconn-majority-owned Sharp plans for its market share for smartphone AMOLED shipments to increase from 1.1 percent in 2018 to 6.2 percent in 2020, 10 percent in 2023, and 13.2 percent in 2025.

In addition to catering to Apple, this would give Sharp the production capacity needed to make AMOLED displays for rival smartphone companies. The total number of smartphones using AMOLED panels is set to increase from 3.45 million this year to a massive 13.57 million in 2025.

According to a recent rumor, Apple has plans to launch a super-giant-size iPhone featuring a 5.8-inch AMOLED display as soon as 2017. Along with Samsung and Foxconn, Apple plans to source displays from LG and Japan Display — both of which will be looking at upping production.

Like the battle between TSMC and Samsung to build chips for Apple devices — a battle that has previously ended in a court case — the tussle between Foxconn and Samsung to be Apple’s principle manufacturer is one of the more intriguing ones on the supply-chain side.

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has admitted to trying to get Apple to lessen its dependency on Samsung, telling other Taiwanese manufacturers they need to work together to counter the South Korean company, which threatens manufacturing in Taiwan.

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