OLED displays could arrive with next year’s iPhone 7s

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Sharper iPhone displays are just around the corner.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Virtually everyone is expecting Apple to make the jump to OLED displays sooner or later, but according to a new report iPhone users may be able to expect the arrival of the new, sharper displays as soon as next year’s iPhone 7s — around one year earlier than was being predicted.

Apple is reported to have spoken with its display suppliers at both LG and Samsung concerning its desire to ramp up OLED production so that it is ready for next year’s iPhone release.

This relatively late-stage decision on Apple’s part is said to be a response from Apple to slowing iPhone sales, which it hopes this will reverse, although that doesn’t strike me as wholly believable.

For one thing, Apple is rarely an opportunistic, reactive company which makes snap decisions to rush out new technology in the way that *ahem* certain Android-makers do. While it is certainly probable that iPhone sales are slowing down, Apple will have been aware of the likelihood of this trend for a while, and planned its future accordingly.

I’d also question whether an OLED display — however much it is something I would personally want — is really a fix-all for whatever stalling sales Apple is seeing. iPhones are consistent top-sellers, and even though last year’s iPhone 6s was hardly as revolutionary as the iPhone 6 (which you would expect from Apple’s bi-annual “s” models) it still outsold it in its first weekend and received some positive-to-very strong reviews. Put another way, how much does the iPhone’s specific feature set play into the slowing growth of Apple’s handset business? Not much, I’d warrant.

The new report — citing sources familiar with Apple’s business dealings — notes that Apple’s display suppliers are concerned about the ability to create the necessary OLED displays on Apple’s timetable, but that Apple made sure to include such a date-changing provision into its supplier contracts.

While other companies including Samsung have embraced OLED displays previously, Apple has apparently been reticent due to concern over possible yield issues — since Apple requires far larger numbers of displays than other phone manufacturers. Other past worries on Apple’s part include issues with the lifespan, luminosity, and energy-saving capabilities of smaller OLED panels.

What has changed? I guess we’ll find out over the coming months.

Source: Nikkei

Via: Apple Insider

 

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