14 DAY TRIAL // LG Display has struck a long-term deal with Apple to produce 15-inch LCD displays for use in its devices. LG is also displaying a new type of screen at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. The 1.4 millimeters thick display may not be overlooked by Apple.
LG made it official today that Apple and the South Korean chaebol would be providing Apple with its new panels for five years. The deal is very important to the world's second largest LCD maker in times like these, reports suggest. The contract between the two companies calls for LG to receive an advance payment of $500 million sometime this month.
However, it's not just Apple's desktop computers and notebooks that are getting the new screens, but even the company's iPods and iPhones, the same reports show. LG Display and Apple were going to decide later on details such as the number of panels LG would provide, LG said in a statement. The Seoul-based conglomerate declined to provide further details.
As noted above, Apple may want to implement LG's new OLED-based screens as well, in the future. OLED is a new-generation flat-panel display technology that uses organic matter that emits its own light, outperforming LED backlit displays, which aren't even obsolete yet. Besides helping Apple achieve ever thinner designs and longer battery life, the new screens will also help drive Apple's environmental commitment forward, as they use up less power. OLED screens also handle fast-moving images better, while color has more pop than on current LCDs and PDPs (plasma display panels). The LG widescreen panel has a resolution of 1,366x768 and a lifetime of 30,000 hours.
"It's likely to come in the second half of this year, as soon as we get customers," Kim Won, director of OLED sales and marketing at LG Display, said, as the company was announcing its new product. "It's not a good time for us to launch this type of luxurious product, because the market is in recession, but we think it's time for us to invest in marketing," Won added, before the agreement with the Mac maker was publicized. "We have to communicate with customers about advanced products."
Update: this article has been modified to correct a statement saying Apple had interest in LG's OLED displays. At the moment, the $500M deal concerns LCD displays only, as far as we know. Thanks to the reader who sent this in.