Apple has apparently preponed its move to bring OLED displays for its entire iPhone lineup, despite facing severe supply shortage of OLED panels in the smartphone market. A recent Nikkei report confirmed the company has advanced the launch of three new iPhones featuring OLED displays to 2018, as opposed to its earlier proposed date of 2019.
Owing to supply constraints, Apple had earlier withdrawn its move to implement OLED displays on iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus models slated for launch later this year. Instead, the company had limited the OLED option to its upcoming flagship iPhone 8.
Apple has recently struck a deal with both LG and Samsung to ramp up the production of OLED panels for its forthcoming iPhone line-up. The iPhone maker has invested around $2.6 billion to enable LG setup an OLED factory for mass producing its own OLED displays, while Samsung has signed an agreement with Apple to supply over 80-85 million OLED panels in the next two years.
Samsung's monopoly on OLED display panels
Except for Samsung, all other display panel makers are reportedly struggling with the OLED yield and are unable to meet Apple's requirement for the upcoming iPhones. The South Korean giant is further bolstering its production capacity with the launch of new OLED factories.
Samsung has been the only OLED panel supplier for the iPhone 8 and the company is expected to continue its monopoly on OLED display panels due to its higher production capacity and yield rates.
