[NewsPoster]

Companies in Apple's supply chain are already reaping the benefits of Apple's rumored plans to switch to OLED display panels for its 2017 iPhone line up, reports Bloomberg. Upstream supplier Applied Materials last week reported a close to four-fold increase in orders for its equipment, which is used to manufacture OLED displays. In putting place orders for this equipment now, OLED display manufacturers like Samsung are said to be positioned well to ramp up OLED production for the fall of 2017.


"Some tooling or machinery orders now set up suppliers for the fall of 2017," Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told Bloomberg. "It sets up the iPhone in the fall of 2017 to be more of an impactful upgrade than the fall of this year." Further, without calling out Apple by name, Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson said of the spike in its orders was not expected to be a one-off. "It's not a peak or a one-time event," Dickerson said. "This is going to be sustainable growth. We all know who is the leader in terms of mobile products."

Apple is already said to have signed a deal with Samsung to supply OLED panels for its 2017 iPhone, and today's report aligns with a rumored $7 billion investment that Samsung is said to be investing in order to meet Apple's requirements, in addition to the supply of OLED panels for its own smartphones. Early alleged leaks suggest 2017 model will be a complete design overhaul, with the reintroduction of a glass rear panel as well as the switch to OLED display technology. It may also drop the 3.5mm headphone jack, and switch to Touch ID technology embedded beneath the display, replacing a physical button.

Initial rumors surrounding the 2016 iPhone upgrade expected in September suggests that the next iPhone will continue with a similar appearance to the current iPhone 6/6s. Purported image leaks show a device with less prominent antenna band lines, but still incorporating pronounced rear camera bulge.

[Steve Wilkinson]

As I understand, OLED has a few advantages, but overall, wouldn't it be a decrease in display quality?

[DiabloConQueso]

OLED's come a long, long way in the last 5 years or so.

It can be thinner than a standard LED panel, offer deeper blacks, be more flexible, offer better power efficiency, has a much faster response time, and it doesn't require a separate backlight mechanism either.

With Apple's obsession with thin, it certainly makes sense.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Heh, well we don't need anything more thin, but deeper blacks (if the rest of the color spectrum is as good or better) and power efficiency is good, I guess. Do they still go bad more quickly?

[DiabloConQueso]

Yes, they "go bad" more quickly, but probably not within the usable lifetime of the device.

Of course some people are going to expect them to last 10 years or more at full brightness and color saturation and those people will probably never be satisfied. We'll certainly hear from them, though, as we always do with the vocal minority.

If iOS 10 introduces some kind of "dark mode"
iOS 10 Concept Features Dark Mode, Split Screen for iPhone - Mac Rumors

then OLED panels will make a lot of sense. Since iOS 7, there has been way too much literal white space and while it doesn't matter for traditional LED, with OLED dark mode will be a major help.