Apple's iPhone 7 could sport an OLED display made by LG or Samsung: Report

South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd and the panel-making unit of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will supply organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens for Apple Inc’s iPhones, the Electronic Times reported on Wednesday citing unnamed sources. The report comes after years of speculation that Apple will start using the next-generation technology in its phones. OLED screens are thinner and offer better picture quality than the mainstay liquid crystal display screens. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported last month that Apple plans to start using OLED screens for iPhones starting in 2018. (Also Read:  Apple might be working on OLED displays for future iOS devices ) LG and Samsung Display are close to a final agreement with Apple for the screens, the Electronic Times report said, adding the two Korean firms plan a combined 15 trillion won ($12.8 billion) in capital expenditure to build up OLED production capacity over the next two to three years. Apple will likely provide some funding to both firms to help with the investments, the paper added. LG Display and Samsung Display declined to comment, while Apple could not be immediately reached for comment. Samsung Display, which currently supplies OLED smartphone panels to parent Samsung Electronics and Chinese vendors, is likely getting bigger volumes from Apple than LG Display, the paper said. Back in November, LG had announced that it was ramping up OLED display production by investing more than 10 trillion won ($8.71 billion) to build a large plant to make panels using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels. With the latest update it is now clear that Apple may have cut a deal with LG Display (and obviously Samsung) that resulted in the news we have today. Seems like LG’s big bet by investing billions was not exactly a bet but a silent deal after all. But we wonder how these deals have struck considering that Apple is very possessive about suppliers as was in the case of Sharp. The Cupertino giant back in 2014 woke up to demand all of its investments in Sharp’s Kameyama Plant. Sharp eventually struck a deal and moved on because Apple demanded that the plant should not be used to build components for any other smartphone brand. The plant was used to manufacture the display of the iPhone 6. With inputs from Reuters