14 DAY TRIAL // If we are to believe the latest information coming from various reputable analysts, Apple is determined to switch to OLED panels beginning next year. Although not all three of its iPhones will feature OLED displays, Apple clearly aims to launch at least one high-end iPhone packing such a screen.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, the high-end iPhone 8, or whatever its name, Apple plans to launch next year will feature an OLED display of either 5.1 or 5.2 inches.
The phone will be released together with the other two models the company is rumored to announce next year, but they will pack LCD panel probably sized at 4.7 and 5.5 inches.
Samsung, Apple's main OLED display supplier is likely to provide the Cupertino-based company with around 100 million units.
However, these OLED displays will be sized at 5.7 or 5.8 inches, but even so, the iPhone's actual active area will be much smaller, in the 5.1 or 5.2 inches range.
Aside from the size of the OLED iPhone, Kuo also wrote in a research note that Apple would make some major changes to the form factor, thus making the phone look much better than the LCD models.
Even though the OLED iPhone will sport a 5.1 or 5.2-inch display, much smaller than the 5.5-inch LCD display packed inside one of the other two iPhones, the former will be sold as Apple's high-end iPhone.
Another major change that Apple plans to implement in the next-generation iPhone is the switch from metal to glass casing.
Although sales for the iPhone are expected to increase next year, there's a lot of concern among Apple execs regarding the supply of OLED panels.
As some of you have read in our previous articles, the four big display suppliers (Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display and Sharp) aren't really ready to fulfill Apple's demands for OLED panels.
However, beginning 2018, if the smartphone industry decides to switch to OLED panels, supply shouldn't be a problem any longer.