As expected, Apple has just revealed the iPhone X, and the company promises that it will be "the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone." What's immediately striking about the iPhone X is the lack of a hardware home button, making way for an edge-to-edge display that clocks in at 5.8-inches diagonally. The new display that the iPhone X is outfitted with has been dubbed the "Super Retina Display."
As seems to be the case with all new iPhone launches, the iPhone X is apparently set to be in low supply. At first - when the announcement is fresh in our minds. To be fair, this is the first iPhone to (likely) come with an OLED display, so it could be that this "severe short supply" suggestion from analysts is entirely realistic. This isn't the first we've heard about supply constraints when it comes to OLED panels.
Bang & Olufsen has outed its latest high-end TV, the BeoVision Eclipse, partnering for the first time with LG in the process. The new set, announced at IFA 2017, wraps one of LG's OLED panels in B&O's legendary Danish style, mixing gleaming metal, fabric, and a motorized floor stand. According to B&O, it's the first of a partnership that will impact all of the company's TVs moving forward.
This week the folks at Samsung Display are reported to be ramping up production of OLED displays for Apple's next iPhone. That device, commonly referred to as the iPhone 8 until Apple's official reveal, will quite likely take advantage of Samsung Display's biggest increase in OLED display production in its short history. While Apple's launch of the iPhone 8 could potentially cannibalize iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus sales (those devices also likely part of Apple's next event reveal), this may well be Apple's biggest iPhone launch ever.
The age of the full frontal display is here, and Apple is the one to bring it about. Or that's what the company will have you believe, if their marketing department brings the iPhone 8 out the way they should. Android devices have been starting in on this trend early, as it were - Xiaomi, LG, Samsung, and others included.
LG has a rather amusing practice of making leaks practically useless in the long run. Given enough time, LG itself will spill the beans of its newest smartphone flagship in the weeks leading to its launch. This is again the case with the LG V30, which is expected to be unveiled by the end of the month. LG has come out with a post boasting of the smartphone’s screen, which is LG’s first ever OLED display for mobile.
The Galaxy S8 currently sports the best display on the mobile market, but that may change when Apple unveils the anniversary edition of the iPhone next month. The phone, which is being called the iPhone 8 at the moment, is rumored to sport an OLED display, and with that display will come a new world of potential UI changes. We've seen many renders of the anticipated phone over past months, but this latest one poses a unique question: what, if any, UI changes will Apple make to leverage OLED's key benefit?
If there were still doubts that Apple would be embracing OLED over LCD moving forward, this new bit of information might dispel that. According to Korean media, Apple and LG Display, LG’s panel-making business, have just reached an agreement into how much OLED displays the latter will supply Apple, most likely for iPhones, next year. This spells some trouble for Samsung, as it now has to compete more fiercely with its rival for a larger share of a contract that will, eventually, benefit its other big rival.
If there's one thing you can almost guarantee gets Apple execs frustrated, it's seeing Samsung's name high on the list of suppliers for iPhone components. Now, according to new reports, the Cupertino company is looking to change that in a significant way. While the iPhone 8 may be dependent on Samsung Display for the OLED screen it's expected to debut in Apple's smartphone range, the groundwork is in place to wean future iPhones off their Samsung dependence.
Apple's ambitious plans to embrace OLED screen technology may not completely upend the new iPhone line-up in 2017, but it'll be all-change in 2018. The Cupertino firm plans to launch just one new iPhone using an OLED panel this year, sources say, but that will triple to three OLED iPhones in 2018. The whispers underscore long-standing rumors in the phone industry that Apple is hoping to move away from LCD in its handsets.
Apple is moving to lock down supplies of one of the most important components for its next-generation iPhone, reportedly pumping cash into LG Display in return for parts exclusivity. The Cupertino firm is, so South Korean sources are reporting, weighing a considerable investment into one of LG Display's production lines, which would be earmarked entirely for Apple's needs. In doing so, Apple could help further shift its reliance away from Samsung.
Usually, it only takes a few months for a company to fully launch a new product after publicly announcing it. In LG's case, it took nearly half a year, but the wait may have been very well worth it. At least for those who could afford it. At CES last January, LG unveiled its new generation of "Signature" 4K OLED TVs and one in particular was obviously its star: the 77-inch LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W that is so thin and even slightly flexible that it looks like it's part of your wallpaper.
