Samsung reportedly increasing OLED production ahead of curved iPhone release in 2017

Samsung has reportedly started installing new production equipment at a plant in Korea as it gears up production to supply OLED displays to Apple. Its rival has never before used an OLED display for the iPhone and it’s expected to break with tradition in 2017. A recent report from Nikkei Asian Review suggested that Apple will launch three iPhones next year one of which is going to be a premium handset with a 5.5-inch or larger display that’s curved on two sides much like Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Samsung has long been rumored to be one of the major OLED suppliers, if not the only, for Apple. Chosun Biz reports that the company is now installing new equipment at its A3 OLED plant in South Chungcheong province in order to increase OLED production. Samsung currently produces around 40,000 mother glasses per month which are good for 9 million 5-inch display panels. It’s expected that with production being increased this figure could climb to 120,000 mother glasses for 30 million panels. The company uses OLED displays in its smartphones as well so it certainly needs to increase production capacity to make sure that its demand is also met and it can make money by selling its superior displays to Apple as well.