Rumors that Apple will be switching from IPS LCD to OLED displays for future iPhones have been doing the rounds for many years – though the latest one reported by Reuters does get a little more specific than most.
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.
It was claimed last month that Apple plans to start using OLED screens for iPhones starting in 2018, supporting an earlier report that Apple would be sticking with LCD for the iPhone 7.
There are pros and cons to the competing display technologies …
OLED displays can be thinner than the LCD technology used in current iPhone screens, and allow far deeper blacks – a feature Apple puts to good use in the Apple Watch, where it’s virtually impossible to tell where the display ends and the bezel begins. Jony Ive is a fan for this reason.
OLED is also more power-efficient than LCD where the majority of the content is black, as it is with the Apple Watch, but this would not deliver much benefit in an iPhone unless Apple used a black theme for a future version of iOS.
Finally, OLED also allows more vivid colors, though this can be a mixed blessing, making photos appear over-saturated.
On the downside, OLED has higher manufacturing costs, displays have a shorter lifespan and don’t match the brightness of LCD. Back in 2013, Tim Cook cited both brightness and color accuracy as drawbacks of OLED screens.
Samsung is said to be likely to get the bigger slice of the pie than LG, with Apple reportedly planning to provide both companies with funding to help with setup costs.
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Japan display where apple has invested millions of dollars ?
but again Samesung !
LG
LED displays but unlike the currently used by other competitors, it has to be something new like the one they’re secretly developing in Taiwan, maybe. I would like to hear this statement many times on stage “This has not been done before” :)
Sounds like a backward step to me.
Not sure what you mean by this:
“Finally, OLED also allows more vivid colors, though this can be a mixed blessing, making photos appear over-saturated.
On the downside, OLED has higher manufacturing costs, displays have a shorter lifespan and don’t match the brightness of LCD. Back in 2013, Tim Cook cited both brightness and color accuracy as drawbacks of OLED screens.”
As far as I know the display in Galaxy S6 is more accurate than iPhone 6 and the S6:s screen is also brighter.
Both technologies can be tweaked in all kinds of ways, so there will be different results with different specific devices (for example, Apple weights for skin tone accuracy in the iPhone 6/6s/Plus). What I’ve outlined are the inherent differences between the technologies themselves.
Ben would it be possible for you to site OLED information from 2015 instead of 2013? I understand you’re only outlining the inherent differences, but things have changed dramatically since then. The info in the iP5 v S4 link is pretty dated. The same reference source, Displaymate, have updated info on OLED screens. Brightness and accuracy have both been addressed. OLED screens have held Dispaymate’s best display title for a couple of years now. The higher manufacturing cost and shorter lifespan are valid concerns, but the brightness and color accuracy have been addressed for some time.
@DEE CHRISTOPHER
AMOLED article of Wikipedia does not have much more that what we can read here.
they do mention the fact that to compensate the lack of brightness of OLED samsung put some Active Matrix (LCD tech) Behind the OLED
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMOLED
but DisplayMate mention “Some people like the extra saturated and vibrant colours”
http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note5_ShootOut_1.htm
http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S6_ShootOut_1.htm
Too bad DisplayMate does mostly test and do not talk much about the technology of those screen.
they seems to love iPad mini 4
“with not only a full and very accurate 101% sRGB Color Gamut, but even more important, with a very low 2.0% screen Reflectance – the lowest we have ever measured for any mobile display – very impressive!” – http://www.displaymate.com/news.html#iPad_mini_4
Apple has a history of promoting the technology it is currently using as “the best” and when they change to a different technology, they will find “reasons” why it was a good move for you, the consumer. It’s called salesmanship, and they are very, very good at it.
Or maybe, JUST maybe, they sincerely use (and switch to) what they think provides the best combination of qualities and features at an acceptable price for their customers.
Micro-LED will probably be used on iPhones before OLED. Apple bought LuxVue Technology in spring 2014 and Apple now has a test display lab in Taiwan. Apple may use OLED in iPad, but don’t think they will use them on iPhones.
Whenever Apple is negotiating supplies of anything, sources close to Samsung are always claiming that the contract will go to Samsung, but it doesn’t always end up that way.
It makes perfect sense for Apple to enter discussions with Samsung and other suppliers, especially if Apple are then able to negotiate a very favourable low price by playing one against the other.
The days of Samsung picking up all of Apple’s contracts by default have long gone and now that alternative suppliers exist for most of the parts that Apple needs, Samsung will no longer be able to rely on those lucrative contracts any more and will have to compete, which usually means reducing their price ( and of course their profit margin ).
We need sapphire displays as well! Tired of spending 20$ for a 0,03$ sheet of plastic to prevent scratches on oir displays.
Do you keep sandpaper in your pocket? I haven’t used a screen protector on my 6 and there isnt a single scratch what so ever.
I’ve never used a screen protector and never will. You definitely don’t need one on the 6S, it’s very resistant to scratches. Sapphire is garbage until they can make the new sapphire glass that display mate talked about, because scratch resistance isn’t anywhere NEAR as important as display quality, and current sapphire is VERY reflective which means it is reflecting a significantly larger percentage of ambient light than the glass they use now. Reflected light makes colors dull and contrast horrible. That’s why when you go outside your screen looks horrible, and you can hardly see it, and you have to increase the brightness greatly. The closer to 0% reflected light, the better, and currently the best Apple has is on the iPad Mini 4 with just 2% reflectance, as opposed to the iPhone 6 series at around 5-6% reflectance. It’s easiest to see how bad sapphire is with the Apple Watch vs. Apple Watch Sport. The Sport is so so much better in any ambient light, especially outside.
A smaller iphone is another place where I think oled makes a lot of sense to start with. It’s a smaller market so they can ramp up yields, It needs better battery life more than larger devices (though most savings would be on a dark lock screen for now), and color accuracy doesn’t matter as much on a device that won’t have a top of the line camera in it.
We could see the merger of iphone and apple watch concepts into a new small line of iphones while the “iphone pros” stick to the older tech until it’s up to snuff.
There aren’t and will never be ‘iPhone pro’ unless Apple is completely retarded.
I mean I get what you mean, but I’m not liking ‘pro’ haha
Anyone not sure about oled need only look at the the Galaxy note 5. Simply amazing screen.
Gorgeous phone. Too bad it’s an android device.