- Japan's Nikkei reports Apple (AAPL -0.5%) will launch iPhones sporting OLED displays starting in 2018. To date, the company has exclusively used LCDs for its retina displays.
- The paper adds securing enough OLEDs to meet Apple's needs (the company sells over 200M iPhones/year) could be difficult, and that Apple will "work over the next year or so" with suppliers to see if it can obtain enough displays and eliminate technical drawbacks such as performance degradation.
- iPhone LCD supplier LG Display (LPL +6.9%), which has already unveiled plans to invest ~$8.5B in OLED manufacturing through 2018, is said to be "planning capacity upgrades." OLED materials/IP provider Universal Display (OLED +5.2%) have caught a bid on the Nikkei's report; LPL was already higher on the day.
- OLEDs have long been a staple on Samsung's Galaxy S and Note lines. Supporters of the technology praise its high contrast/deep blacks and potential thickness and power consumption advantages. Apple, however, has argued its LCDs provide superior color accuracy.
- There have long been rumors Apple is thinking of adopting OLEDs. The company recently filed a patent application for an integrated OLED display and touch panel, with a fingerprint reader located underneath.
- Earlier: Apple buys Star Wars motion capture tech developer Faceshift
- Five months ago: Apple reportedly working on iPhone design that eliminates home button