Apple is set to use OLED displays for all iPhone models sold in 2025 and later, moving away from LCDs, Nikkei newspaper reported. Apple has also selected OLED vendors for some of its models.
Apple will stop purchasing displays from Japan-based Sharp and Japan Display since they do not mass produce OLED displays, the report said. Apple says it has sold iPhones worth $200.583 billion in 2023. IDC report says Apple shipped 234.6 million iPhones in 2023. iPhone has grabbed 20.1 percent share in the global smartphone market.
Apple is not waiting for supply from Sharp and Japan Display they had a combined 70 percent share of iPhone displays about a decade ago. Sharp and Japan Display had supplied LCDs only for the iPhone SE recently. Since Sharp and Japan Display do not mass-produce OLED displays for smartphones, Apple will be forced to source from other suppliers.
Apple first used OLED panels in the iPhone X, unveiled in 2017, and has since switched to OLEDs for premium iPhone models.
Though Apple was slow in the adoption of OLEDs for iPhones, shipments of OLEDs for smartphones have reached 182 million units, a 39 percent increase, during the first quarter of 2024. For comparison, LCD shipments for smartphones fell by 10 percent to 172 million units, according to Omdia report.
Apple has started placing orders for OLED displays for the upcoming iPhone SE model from China’s BOE Technology and South Korea’s LG Display.
LG Display has recorded KRW 5.253 trillion in revenues and KRW 469 billion in operating loss in the first quarter of 2024.
LG Display says panels for TVs accounted for 22 percent of revenues in Q1 2024. Panels for IT devices, including monitors, laptops, and tablet PCs, accounted for 40 percent, while panels for mobiles and other devices accounted for 28 percent, and panels for automobiles accounted for 10 percent.
LG Display plans to expand the proportion of high value-added display products in all areas of its business, including TV, IT, mobile, and automotive panels.
BOE Technology, which reported annual revenue of $32 billion, says its OLED screen shipments have ranked first in China and second globally, including wearable, tablet, laptop, automotive and phone displays, during the first quarter of 2024.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
