Banana iPhones
Much attention is being paid to the possibility that Apple will adopt flexible screens on its future iPhone models, as major Korean display manufacturers are seeking to persuade the U.S.-based global IT giant to do it.
According to an industry source, Apple is “serious” about transferring its flagship product lineup to one equipped with organic light-emitting diode (OLED), screens as those displays can solve its existing weak points such as color saturation, accuracy, and brightness.
The source added that if Apple releases an iPhone with an OLED-based flexible screen, it will create a huge market, as Apple has not yet used the technology in its flagship models.
Currently Apple applies flexible OLEDs to just the Apple Watch, the panels of which LG Display and Samsung Display supply.
“It is very likely that the first flexible iPhone may be introduced in 2018, as Apple's top-tier display suppliers are working on it,” the source said.
In particular, LG Display, Apple's top display supplier, plans to shift one of its LCD lines in Gumi factory into an OLED line to expand its annual manufacturing capacity of OLED displays, aiming at their mass-production in 2017.
Since Apple's iPhones have been released in accordance with the schedule of its display suppliers, consumers might be able to buy curved iPhones from 2018.