Ironical Real Winner
Even if Apple's iPhone X to be launched on September 12 (local time) becomes successful, Apple's archrival, Samsung Electronics, will wind up being a real winner, some analysis says. This analysis is garnering a lot of attention at a time when Apple and Samsung seem to be competing with new products that debut at similar times.
Quartz, a US online media outlet, pointed out that Apple relies on Samsung's OLED displays based on a report released by Taiwan's KGI Securities. The report says that this is because the iPhone X works most effectively with Samsung's OLED displays.
According to the report, the price of the iPhone X is expected to exceed US$1,000 per unit, because Samsung's OLED display prices range from US$120 to US$130 per unit. IHS Markit, a US market information company, said that the price of the LCD display for the iPhone 6 and 7 series was US$52.2 dollars as of September 2015.
At the moment, Samsung is the only company that can produce high-quality OLED displays that can satisfy Apple. According to UBI Research, a market research firm in Korea, Samsung accounts for 89% of the smartphone OLED display market. Other OLED makers are expected to enter the market by 2020 but Samsung's market share is expected to remain at 72%.
Other component makers took a long time to develop OLED smartphone display mass production technology. Analysts at home and abroad said that LG Electronics was negotiating with Apple about manufacturing and selling OLED displays but it will be not possible to roll out them by 2019 due to a lack of equipment.
Japan Display which supplies more than half of LCD displays to Apple cannot mass-produce OLED display until 2019. According to Jerry Kang, a chief analyst at IHS Markit, Sharp acquired by Foxconn of Taiwan last year to strengthen its display business began to develop OLED technology only recently.
"Samsung's competitors are facing a lot of difficulties in securing materials and components," analyst Kang said. "It will take years for the competitors to get over the problem and catch up with Samsung."
OLED technology produces thinner screens that do not use backlighting. OLEDs consume less power than LCDs.
Samsung Electronics is expected to expand its profits by way of its OLED market dominance. According to analysts, Samsung is likely to enjoy more profits from components such as displays and flash memory chips than from smartphones. Thanks to this, Samsung is performing well while maintaining its dominance in the OLED display market despite recent explosions of Note 7 batteries and an increase in the number of companies moving toward OLEDs from LCDs.