LG Display to adjust production, prepare for iPhone OLEDs

Jan 20, 2016 10:06 GMT  ·  By

Apple is believed to be planning the switch from LCD to OLED displays for the iPhone at some point in the future, so panel manufacturers across the world are now adjusting production in the hope that they could reach a deal with the Cupertino-based company when this transition happens.

The latest report in this regard comes from Digitimes, which writes that LG Display, who has already worked with Apple on making OLED screens for the Apple Watch, is now planning to boost production at its G6 facilities in order to pave the way for similar displays for the iPhone.

An agreement between Apple and LG is yet to be reached, though, sources claim, so the latter hopes to increase its chances of building iPhone OLED displays by proving that it has the necessary capacity that Cupertino expects for this new model.

The aforementioned site claims, via unknown sources, that LG Display wants to build as many as 75,000 displays produced every month by the first half of 2017, which should allow it to then start production of curved OLED screens for the iPhone.

OLED iPhone coming in 2018 or 2019

While such news is definitely exciting for Apple fanboys, the wait is longer than they’d expect, as the company doesn’t plan to make the switch from LCD to OLED sooner than 2018 or 2019.

People with knowledge of Apple’s plans suggested that the first model to come with such a display technology could be the iPhone 8, which, according to the company’s one-refresh-per-year policy, should arrive in 2018.

This means that the next-generation device, likely to be called iPhone 7, will come with the same LCD screen as the current version, and this is expected to be the case of the S version too, which will most likely debut in 2017. Of course, take everything with a healthy pinch of salt for the moment, as Apple is yet to confirm any of these.