Most of the time, discussion about display technologies will be limited mostly to their consumer applications. Every once in a while, though, a company will create a new display that isn't meant to be sold, but rather was created as a way of pushing display technology forward. LG Display is doing precisely that today, showing off a new massive, flexible OLED display.
Is Samsung over its foldable display obsession? Well, yes and no. It has more or less mastered that, pending coming out with an actual device that takes advantage of that. In the meantime, however, it has turned its attention to another kind of deformable display. At the Display Week in Los Angeles, it showed off to a limited audience a 9.1-inch "stretchable" OLED display. And now it is sharing a video for the rest of us to gawk at the screen's elastic properties.
Forget foldable or even rollable displays. Stretchable screens are the future! OK, that might be a bit of a stretch, but this type of display moves us closer to the holy grail of deformable devices. Unsurprisingly, Samsung says it has something like that and it will be giving the world a sneak peek later this week. Of course, it has had flexible and foldable screens for quite a while now. Creating a consumer device out of those, however, is a different story.
Estimates for shipping numbers for the Galaxy S8 have risen in KGI's books as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo taps into Galaxy Note 8 predictions. This week the analyst suggested that preliminary shipments of the Galaxy S8 have surprised him, coming in far stronger than previously expected. The Galaxy Note 8, said Kuo, will have features that not only differ from those of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus significantly, they'll likely match those of the iPhone 8 (and/or OLED iPhone) in several key areas.
Apple has ordered 70 million OLED panels from Samsung, according to a new report, indicating big expectations on Apple's part for the upcoming iPhone 8. This isn't the first time we've heard sources claim Apple is nabbing loads of OLED panels from Samsung, but it is the latest, and it comes with a bit more information. The iPhone 8 is claimed to be the first Apple smartphone with a curved display, something competitor Samsung has already embraced with multiple Galaxy handsets.
If you believe the rumors we've heard so far, then the next iPhone will come equipped with OLED display. This has been one of the more prevalent rumors since the mill started churning, and today we're getting new details that seem to solidify it. According to this new report, Samsung Display has started producing OLED panels for the next iPhone, complete with 3D Touch functionality.
Sony showed up to CES 2017 with a collection of new BRAVIA 4K OLED TVs in tow, but as is usually the case with these trade show reveals, Sony wasn't quite ready to talk release dates or pricing at the time. Today Sony is delivering that information at last, but with these TVs offering 4K OLED panels, don't expect them to be inexpensive.
Get ready for another report about the iPhone 8, because The Wall Street Journal has published a doozy today. According to the paper, the next iPhone will sport a curved OLED display, though we've heard some kind of variant of that claim frequently over the past few months. What's really surprising about the WSJ's report is the claim that Apple will ditch Lightning with the iPhone 8 in favor of USB-C.
Samsung is tipped to be on the receiving end of a large order from Apple, one seeking more than $4 billion dollars’ worth of OLED panels. The sources say that in light of this new alleged order and previous ones, Samsung is officially a ‘major supplier’ for the upcoming iPhone model. Assuming the sources are correct, Samsung Display has been tapped to produce 60 million OLED panels via this latest order.
Everyone wants to hear about Apple’s fabled 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone, tentatively nicknamed the iPhone 8. What everyone might not want to hear, however, is the price tag that will go along with it. According to certain sources, it’s going to cost a lot. And by “a lot”, they’re referring to figures going above $1,000. If true, then this iPhone that will celebrate the device’s 10th year will not only be the most expensive iPhone ever, it will also be the most expensive non-luxury smartphone ever as well.
Bentley may be an old brand but the luxury automaker is experimenting with cutting edge tech, exploring displays that appear like magic out of the woodwork. The British automaker discussed some of the ways it could use new technology like transparent OLED last week, when CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer spoke at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, USA. Meanwhile, like most automakers Bentley is considering the role of a car manufacturer in a future where individual ownership is predicted to dwindle.
Next year is rumored to be the first with an iPhone with OLED display - just so long as Canon Tokki Corp. can deliver. That's what's implied by sources this week who claim a bottleneck in supply might block an OLED iPhone in 2017. Canon Tokki has a "near monopoly" on the equipment that makes OLED displays - the equipment manufacturers need to create OLED displays for smartphones of all sorts. Whether or not Apple jumping in on OLED will affect how well Android devices are supplied is another question entirely.
