Here’s Why Apple May Continue To Depend On Samsung For Next Two Years

In 2017 when Applelaunched its iPhone X, the company was said to heavily bank on Samsung’s OLED displays for the particular device. The South Korean tech firm was the only supplier of OLED screens for the iPhone X at that time. Later it was reported that Apple may use LG, Japan Display and BOE as the suppliers for future iPhone screens. While LG is already said to be working on this year’s iPhone OLED screens along with Samsung, the Japan Display OLED panels might not reach iPhones anytime soon. A new report states that OLED iPhone screens from Japan Display could be at least two years away. This also means that Apple will still have to depend on Samsung for some OLED screen supplies.

The report from Japan Times states that Japan Display is exploring the idea to mass produce OLED panels at a domestic plant. It has been said that producing OLED panels in a local plant, which is JDI’s Hakusan plant, will result in the OLED panels to reach the market in 2-2.5 years. However, to build a separate OLED plant in China will take around four years to bring the product. The cost will also be more. “We don’t have three or four years to wait for JDI’s OLED to reach the market. Our major customer cannot wait that long,” said Winston Lee, CEO of Suwa Investment Holding LCC that is helping Japan Display in making OLED panels. “The market changes rapidly, the Chinese OLED manufacturers will eventually catch up.”

So, it looks like Apple could have to continue banking on OLED screens from South Korean tech giants LG and Samsung for future iPhones. For those unaware, in 2017 Apple invested $2.7 billion in the set up costs for LG OLED production lines, which now seems to be getting repaid.―Times of India