Apple and Samsung negotiating OLED prices

Apr 24, 2018 12:35 GMT  ·  By

Apple is reportedly involved in talks with Samsung for cheaper OLED displays for the next-generation iPhone models, as the company wants to address the high pricing issue of its devices.

Sales of the iPhone X are believed to be well below expectations, and the high price is believed to be one of the reasons. The base iPhone X configuration with 64GB can be purchased in the United States for $999, while the upgraded model with 256GB costs $1,149.

A report from Digitimes indicates that Apple plans to cut the price of its future iPhone generation by paying less to Samsung, which makes the OLED screens used on the iPhone X and for the 2018 iPhones.

While it was believed that Apple was seeking to sign a partnership with LG in order to create competition in the iPhone OLED business and thus get better prices, a recent report indicated that this plan is likely to fail because LG doesn’t yet have the production capacity that Cupertino wants.

Samsung still the top OLED maker

Instead, Samsung will remain the main supplier of iPhone OLED displays, and as a result, Apple hopes it’ll get better prices by securing higher production volumes.

Apple thus wants to buy 100 million OLED displays, out of which 25 million are expected to be used by the iPhone X model currently on the market. On the other hand, the remaining 75 million will go to the 2018 iPhone family, which will include two different OLED devices.

Apple is expected to introduce a direct successor the iPhone X with a 5.8-inch display, as well as a Plus-sized model with a 6.5-inch panel. A third version with an LCD screen measuring 6.1 inches is also likely to see daylight in the fall.

According to today’s report, Apple wants to obtain an at least $10 price cut for OLED displays, as it currently pays approximately $110 for each panel manufactured by Samsung.