Amid talk that Apple is taking in much of the world’s supply of OLED displays, a fresh report says that Sharp will spend the equivalent of $864 million on an OLED production line. Sharp, purchased last year by iPhone assembler Foxconn, is rumored to start production in 2019 at a Foxconn facility in Zhengzhou City. That happens to be the factory where half of all iPhone units are assembled, so it is obvious where the panels are going to be employed.
It is expected that Apple will produce an iPhone 7s and an iPhone 7s Plus this year, both featuring an LCD display. In addition, because this is the tenth anniversary year of the device, Apple is rumored to be prepping a premium model that has been dubbed Apple iPhone 8 (aka Ferrari). It is this unit that many believe will come equipped with an OLED display in 2017. In 2018, all iPhone models will sport OLED panels according to the most recent speculation.
For this year’s iPhone 8, Apple has reportedly inked a pact with rival Samsung that calls for the delivery of 100 million OLED panels. With Sharp’s OLED line not expected to start running until 2019, this confirms earlier reports that Apple will be depending on Samsung for the panels up through the end of 2018.
source: Digitimes
