The Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are hardly two months old but talk of the 2017 iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus is already dominating headlines all over the web.
A lot was expected from Apple with this year’s smartphone releases, especially since it the company had not made any major changes to its lineup since introducing a new design with the iPhone 6 in 2014. However, the company chose to come in with minimal changes to the iPhone 6S, adding a few tweaks here and there to basically differentiate the 2016 phones from last year’s iPhone 6S.
Apparently, Apple’s choices with the iPhone 7 were done with one eye on the 2017 flagship, which will help Cupertino mark its 10th anniversary in the smartphone business. It has been noted that the company saved the big changed for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus and according to the latest rumors, it seems this indeed going to happen when time comes.
Just recently, a report emerged suggesting that the iPhone 8 could come in three variants, with the third model being a 5-inch device. Now, a new report from the same source, Japan’s Nikkei, claims that the 2017 iPhone 7 Plus will come with OLED screens supplied by Sharp. The details came when company President Tai Jeng-wu was addressing students at the Tatung University, an event during which he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree.
It is not strange for Sharp to come into an iPhone 8 Plus deal, especially since the company was recently bought by Foxconn, a known Apple partner when it comes to the manufacturing of iPhones.
This is not the first time reports of Apple shifting to OLED panels from LCD panels has come out. In fact, some thought it will happen with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but it did not materialize. On the contrary, a Bloomberg report had previously noted that the shift to OLED screens will not be happening until 2018.
Earlier rumors had indicated that Samsung could land the deal to supply Apple with OLED panels for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. But as it seems, Sharp could also make the cut, especially since Apple usually depends on multiple suppliers for its components. Furthermore, the OLED facilities owned by Sharp may not be enough to meet the 2017 iPhone 8 Plus demands, especially when looking at the huge demand the 2016 iPhone 7 Plus has attracted.