Recent rumors suggested that the OLED displays would be making their way into the iPhone lineup by the year 2018 with the launch of iPhone 8. Things, however, seem to have changed and Apple is now said to be planning on making the switch sooner than 2018.
A new report that came out of China, claims that Apple has reportedly decided to make the transition to OLED displays with its iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus in 2017. All of the iPhone device to date have been featured with an LCD display panel, it’d be the first time of Apple introducing an iPhone with an OLED display tech. Currently, Apple Watch is the only Apple product using the OLED display panel, all of its other products are yet to receive the tech.
The OLED display panels have a number of advantages over its LCD counterpart, which make the OLED panels ideal for mobile gadgets such as an iPhone. Some of the advantages include the less power consumption by the OLED displays when darker colors are displayed. A completely black screen means zero power consumption by an OLED display because the black pixels simply doesn’t light up. This is why an OLED display looks much darker than an LCD one when the screen is totally black. But, unfortunately, Apple’s upcoming iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will still feature an LCD display panel.
Previously, it was reported that Apple will be making the switch in 2018, but a new report from Nikkei – citing sources familiar with the matter – claims that could happen sooner than anticipated. The report claims that the Cupertino fruit company has been in talks with the likes of Samsung and LG to ascertain the viability of increasing their OLED display’s production in time for iPhone 7s upgrade.
Apple is said to be specifically interested in flexible OLED display – the one found in Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 Edge – which hints towards company’s interest in designing an iPhone with a curved display. However, it remains unclear, if the like of LG and Samsung would be able to yield enough flexible display panels for 2017 iPhone refresh.
Most of Apple’s rivals have already introduced OLED display panels in their flagships, and Samsung is always outperforming iPhone’s LCD display panels every year in the test conducted by the DisplayMate experts.
We suggest you to take the report with a pinch of salt because it is still nothing more than a rumor and there are greater chances of it being inaccurate. While the transition from LCD to OLED panels seems exciting, the reliable KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Apple’s won’t be making the switch until 2019 at the earliest.
While it seems plausible that Apple could switch to OLED next year, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a good track record in predicting Apple’s plans, doesn’t expect the iPhone lineup to swap LCD for OLED until 2019 at the earliest.
[Nikkei via AppleInsider]