Apple's push for OLED displays with iPhone 8 will hugely benefit a specific Japanese oil refiner: Report

While Samsung has been using Oled displays in its flagship and mid-range smartphones for years, Apple has now decided to utilize the same in at least one of its smartphones this year, states a report by Bloomberg. While it is obvious that the upcoming  iPhone 8 /X would be the obvious choice, Oled displays are rare outside Samsung’s ecosystem of products because they are hard to produce. But as with many manufacturers and suppliers of components who have benefitted from Apple in the past, the world of Oled displays is about to get larger thanks to Apple and it will, oddly, benefit one Japanese oil refiner in particular, Idemitsu. Idemitsu Kosan Co. is a name that is better known for its gas stations. But the company, according to Bloomberg, began experimenting with organic light-emitting diodes in the mid-1980s. The idea came after the global oil crisis, which came as a shock to the oil industry, when Idemitsu, in an effort to reduce its dependence on petroleum, experimented with Oled technology. The company began to develop not entire displays, but just the blue pixels on Oled screens. These are the same blue pixels that help deliver the right colour balance on Oled displays today. This also means that Idemitsu holds the patents to the blue pixels and the materials used to create them. When Apple jumps onboard the Oled wagon, everyone else will up their game and try and compete, which will also drive demand for Oled screens, which should also benefit this oil refiner. Oled displays have many advantages over LCD displays, but the key here is the ability to deliver a display that will not only last long, but come at an affordable price. With the landscape for displays is changing, Apple’s move to just one Oled device alone is enough to create chaos and stress supply chains. Samsung’s monopoly in the Oled space will limit Apple’s access to the technology for some time at least.