The shortage of machines that make OLED could affect the production of the Apple iPhone 8 2017 models with OLED display.
OLED Display for iPhone 2017
There are rumors that Apple will come up with a model of the iPhone for 2017 having flexible OLED screen display. Bloomberg offers some updates regarding Canon Tokki, a company making machines used for creating the OLED screen displays for the upcoming Apple iPhone 2017.
Machines for OLED Screens
Canon Tokki is the company that produces most of the machines making OLED display for smartphones. Each of the ELVESS OLED machines consists of a system that produces vacuum, being 329 feet long. The system deposits the different colored pixels, namely red, blue and green on to glass surfaces making use of organic material that evaporates.
Canon Tokki
Canon Tokki has offered crucial technology for this type of production, thereby reducing the error margin and offer a higher yield, which other companies cannot hope to achieve. However, according to the Bloomberg report, Canon Tokki can only manufacture less than ten machines in a year. It is already under a backlog of two years on account of high demands. This could have an impact on the production of the OLED display for the upcoming Apple iPhone 2017. There are some rumors that Apple is making use of the OLED display made by Samsung. It is possible that most of the equipment needed may already be ready.
Samsung OLED Display
Samsung has been making use of OLED displays in case of its smartphones for many years now. However, according to Bloomberg, Samsung may not be capable of supplying enough OLED displays for satisfying demands by Apple, as the yield rate is rather low.
Questions Raised
The report raises questions regarding Apple’s ability to offer LED displays for its iPhone 2017, due to bottlenecks in the production potential. It is also doubtful that Apple will be able to rope in other suppliers. The machine costs $85 million and the waiting period is currently two years.
OLED vs. LCD
OLED display offers better contrast as well as more efficient use of power resulting in improved battery life, compared to LCD displays. In addition, OLED displays are created from flexible plastic material and are thinner.
Display for iPhone 8
Rumors claim that Apple will offer a minimum of one model using the OLED displays for its iPhone 2017 smartphones. However, it is not known as to what kind of display it could be. There are some who claim that the OLED display will be a curved one for the iPhone 8, where the display wraps itself around the edge of the phone, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. However, other rumors claim that the curves may not be so dramatic and that the iPhone 8 will come with a flat display in OLED, with bezels eliminated and offering an edge to edge designing.
Radical Change
Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the Apple iPhone 8 2017 will make a radical change from the current glass and aluminum design. A rumor from Korea Herald states that the new display will be a plastic OLED one curving all over.