Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, an analyst who has had a very strong track record of predicting Apple’s future product plans, on Tuesday said that it’s unlikely that the Cupertino will adopt OLED displays in favour of the current LCD ones on its iPhone lineup, at least in the near future (via AppleInsider).
Kuo is known for his notorious and bang on predictions of Apple products. He was the first to report in January that Apple’s iPad Pro would be accompanied by a pressure-sensitive stylus which we now call the Apple Pencil. He had also given word for word predictions regarding the Apple Watch and many other Apple devices.
Recently, there had been rumours milling about which stated that the 2016 model of the iPhone, which is the iPhone 7, would probably feature an AMOLED display. Some believed it to be exciting news, others brushed it off as mere speculation.
Whatever the case, the whole ordeal has today been declared to be a myth by Ming-Chi Kuo. The analyst noted that Foxconn has struck a deal with the government of Henan Province, China, to build sixth-generation LTPS TFT-LCD production lines in Zhengzhou. The production plant is said to enter the market in 2018, and Kuo believes that the huge investment is for earning TFT-LCD orders for future iPhones.
Another argument, Kuo adds, is that Japanese supplier Minebea, which provides backlight units for Apple’s iPhone lineup, has informed its investors that it doesn’t believe that TFT-LCD share loss to AMOLED in the high-end smartphone could be a thing in the near future. The company believes that the next three years would see companies still as hungry for LCD displays as of the past, if not more.
While OLED displays provide better colour saturation, much higher brightness and higher battery lives, the traditional LCD displays too have their own advantages, including production cost, supply flexibility, product life, and visibility in sunlight.
We saw Apple use an OLED display on its Watch but that was because the UI is darker and would allow for better battery efficiency. In fact, an OLED display on an iPhone would be useless unless the UI is made darker. Also, the 1.5-inch OLED panel has been reported to be more expensive than a traditional LCD one.
