Samsung Again Rumored to Be Exclusive Supplier of 5.8-Inch OLED Displays for 2017 iPhone
Samsung Display has again been rumored as the exclusive supplier of OLED panels for the 2017 iPhone, according to new claims made by sources in the Taiwan supply chain (via DigiTimes). Back in April, The Korea Herald reported that Samsung would supply Apple with OLED panels in 2017, furthering rumors from as early as January that Apple and Samsung were in talks for an OLED manufacturing partnership.
Next year's iPhone is said to come in 4.7-inch, 5.5-inch, and 5.8-inch sizes, with the last model believed to be the only iPhone with an OLED display. The OLED version's actual touch-sensitive screen real estate may in fact be closer to 5.5-inches, or possibly 5.1- and 5.2-inches, if the rumor of a curved display is true.
Samsung's current estimates place the company at manufacturing 20 million units per month, according to the supply chain sources. The company's shipments of OLED units are estimated to reach 590 million by 2019. As for benefits, OLED screens can be brighter, clearer, and lead to more energy efficient iPhones.
Samsung Display will become the exclusive supplier of AMOLED panels for use in Apple's new iPhone devices to be launched in 2017 and can supply 20 million units in maximum a month, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
Apple will launch 4.7-, 5.5- and 5.8-inch new iPhone models in second-half 2017, with TFT-LCD panels to be used in the former two models and AMOLED for the 5.8-inch one, the sources said. Global shipments of the AMOLED iPhone in 2017 are estimated at 60-70 million units, the sources noted.
In a separate DigiTimes report posted today, Wistron is believed to be a potential third partner for the manufacturing of the 2017 iPhone, following Foxconn and Pegatron. Wistron was previously rumored to be part of Apple's diversification in its supply chain this year, but it seems like the company was left out of iPhone 7 manufacturing. In the past, Wistron helped supply the iPhone 5c and iPhone SE.
Popular Stories
As previously rumored, the next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a unified volume button and a mute button, according to leaked CAD images shared in a video on the Chinese version of TikTok and posted to Twitter by ShrimpApplePro.
Instead of separate buttons for volume up and volume down, the iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have a single elongated button for...
Apple says iOS 16.4 is coming in the spring, which began this week. In his Sunday newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the update should be released "in the next three weeks or so," meaning a public release is likely in late March or early April.
iOS 16.4 remains in beta testing and introduces a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone. Below, we have recapped five new features ...
The iOS 16.4 update that is set to be released to the public in the near future includes voice isolation for cellular calls, according to notes that Apple shared today.
Apple says that Voice Isolation will prioritize your voice and block out the ambient noise around you, making for clearer phone calls where you can better hear the person you're chatting with and vice versa.
Voice...
A first-generation iPhone still sealed inside its box sold for $54,904 at auction, which is more than $54,000 over the original $599 price tag of the device when it was released in 2007.
The original iPhone was put up for sale by RR Auction on behalf of a former Apple employee who purchased it back when it first came out. Back in February, an original, sealed iPhone sold for over $63,000,...
The iOS 16.4 release candidate version that was provided to developers today appears to hint at a new set of AirPods that could be coming in the near future. According to @aaronp613, the beta features references to AirPods that have a model number of A3048 and an AirPods case with a model number of A2968.
There have been no rumors that new AirPods are on the horizon, and it is early for...
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the launch of the fourth betas. The RCs mark the final version of the software that will be provided to the public in the near future. Registered developers are able to download the iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates...
Google today began allowing users to sign up to use Bard, its AI-powered chatbot that rivals Microsoft's Bing chatbot. First announced back in February, Bard is an experimental conversational AI service for Google Search.
Those interested in Bard can join Google's waitlist to get access, and some users have reported getting invitation emails just hours after signing up. There are a long list ...
Samsung today kicked off a special "Discover Samsung" event, which will be a week-long savings event focusing on Samsung monitors, smartphones, TVs, appliances, and more. While some deals will stick around the entire week (through March 26), others will refresh every day.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...
Top Rated Comments
"Yeah?"
"Let's make it even wider!"
I imagine there will be a huge uproar with this (along with the removal of the home button), similar to the removal of the headphone jack this year.
But when Apple rolls it out in Apple tech, almost all of us will gush passionate love for it: "shut up and take my money", "best iPhone ever", "how did we ever get by without..."
In the time between now and then, the disdain will shift to variations of a "wait & see" sentiment... and then increasingly positive as rumors pile up implying Apple is actually going to embrace it.
In short:
* Competitor feature not available from Apple: stupid, pointless, gimmick
* Early rumors Apple is going to go with it: incredulous why? "No way" denial
* Middle rumors moderate the hard negatives into wait & see
* Late rumors increasingly confirming adoption: "it's growing on me" & "...but Apple will do it right"
* Apple launches it: "shut up and take my money"
Slug in some other competitor product feature not in the iPhone for the next round of early rumors, rinse & repeat. See phones with bigger screens, NFC, etc for prior examples.
Personally, after 3 rounds of refining iPhone 6, anything of consequence that makes this phone tangibly different is probably going to jack up our enthusiasm to crazy levels. I suspect we're all well beyond itching for something- anything- that seems 'next big thing' from Apple and this seems to be the most obvious candidate to focus that enthusiasm.