It’s not exactly news that Samsung is in talks with Apple to produce OLED panels for upcoming iPhone models. A new report is now giving this particular report more credence as it talks about a company called Applied Materials seeing a 4X increase in orders of equipment required to produce displays panels. This company could be supplying the components to Samsung or LG, who are believed to be on top of the list to make OLED panels for Apple’s future iPhones.
Strangely, Apple is rumored to be using the OLED displays for the 2017 or 2018 iPhones and not the iPhone 7 lineup which is due this year. Perhaps the company wants to be absolutely certain about its benefits before making the switch from conventional LCD panels. Of course, the rest of the manufacturers have already embraced OLED displays quite some time ago. But better late than never, as they say. Using OLED displays will help Apple cut down on (even more) thickness, making the upcoming iPhones razor thin.
For Samsung, this could mean a significant increase in revenues as Apple is one of its biggest clients since it started making the custom A-series chipsets for Apple. The production of the current-gen Apple A9 chipset is shared by Samsung and TSMC. Similarly, one would expect the orders of the OLED panels to be distributed between LG and Samsung. However, a recent report mentioned that Samsung might be producing about 60% of the OLED panels required for the iPhone, suggesting that Apple is banking heavily on the Korean manufacturer's expertise in the field.
