Samsung in a strong position to dictate OLED screen pricing for Apple's next iPhone

It's an apparent fact that Samsung makes the world's best OLED panels for smartphones. They're bright, colorful, and flexible, and more importantly, the performance is consistent. Apple is reportedly moving to OLED screens with its next-generation iPhone. Since the bezel-less screen will be the centre of the iPhone 8's focus, Apple wants nothing but the best. So, Apple is sourcing OLED panels for the next iPhone only from Samsung, which has put the South Korean brand in a dominant position.

Apparently, Samsung Display is charging Apple anywhere between $120 to $130 per OLED panel, which is more than double the cost of an LCD panel ($45 to $55) that is used in the iPhone 7 Plus. This increase in the bill of materials is likely to be passed on to the customers, significantly increasing the price of the next iPhone. It is now being reported that Apple is in urgent need of searching for a second OLED supplier so that it can take away some of the bargaining power from Samsung.

While LG has used an OLED screen in the V30, the quality and consistency of the panel are nowhere close to the ones found on the Galaxy S8 and the Note 8. Moreover, LG can't produce OLED panels at a scale that Samsung can. So, Apple has reportedly invested around $2 billion into LG Display to secure OLED panels for future iPhones. Even Google has invested in LG and will source OLED panels from the company for the upcoming Pixel phones.

Asif Iqbal Shaik - Senior Editor

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First Samsung device: T100

Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S21 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.

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