The Korea Herald reports that Apple has contracted Samsung for 100 million OLED 5.5-inch panels per year starting 2017. The deal is said to be worth $2.59 billion.
The report comes at a time when Apple is rumoured to be making the switch to OLED displays with the iPhone. Voices have been whispering that this could happen as early as 2017, and the Korean Herald seems to corroborate that move. It is worth adding that the first reports of Apple adopting OLED displays had put the move at 2018.
Well-connected KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that Apple will use 5.8-inch OLED displays for the Plus iPhone model – currently it uses a 5.5-inch display – but today’s report talks about 5.5-inch displays, so this makes that earlier suggestion doubtful.
As you may recall from an alleged iPhone 7 case leak shared with iPhone in Canada, we won’t see any major design changes this year: maybe a stereo speaker hole, and possible a slightly thinner form factor, thanks to the elimination of the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
A major design overhaul is said to be arriving next year, which would also mean that Apple would break its usual two-year upgrade cycle. According to Kuo’s prediction, next year’s iPhone, besides featuring an OLED screen, would come with wireless charging and a glass back.
