Oliver Haslam·

Rumor: Apple Starts Its Own OLED Display R&D Line, Possibly For Future iPhones

It does not take a genius to work out that Apple has a pretty big smartphone release lined up for later this year, probably September.

With the tenth anniversary of the iPhone’s arrival being something Apple wants to celebrate, and rightly so, we can safely expect that the iPhone 8 will be Apple’s best iPhone yet.

To that end, we have had numerous rumors that have pointed to the device featuring a new OLED display, possibly around 5.8-inches in size. As Samsung has the market cornered in smartphone-sized OLED displays, it stands to reason that Apple would use it for the iPhone 8, but as we know, Apple does not like relying on third parties when it can be avoided.

A new report suggests that Apple already has wheels in motion that would allow it to no longer rely on Samsung or LG for OLED panels moving forward, especially with future iPhones also expected to move to OLED eventually. The report, via DigiTimes but originating from ET News, points out that Apple bought CVD (chemical vapor deposition) machines and now has a research & development line in Taiwan that is dedicated to OLED screen technology.

While Apple does want to have control of its manufacturing process, it does not want to be responsible for making its own parts. The move to buy a company that can instead provide those parts makes perfect sense, and would remove Apple’s reliance on a third party such as Samsung.

iPhone 8 render based on a leaked case

According to the report, the CVD machines Apple now owns are not widely available, suggesting it could allow a company to take control of them, opening the supply chain to new blood. We suspect there would be no shortage of suitors for such a move, especially when it comes hand-in-hand with a deal to provide iPhone displays, too.

(Source: DigiTimes)

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