Apple and Samsung seemed to have one common enemy – Nokia – back in the mid part of the last decade.
Once Nokia was eliminated as a threat, differences between Samsung and Apple started to rise. Apple was heavily dependent on the South Korean giant for several aspects like processors and display panels. Samsung, meanwhile, were accused of using some of the features that made its debut on the Apple phones like the physical home button, fingerprint recognition, and so on.
Recent rumors suggest that Apple may be ready to patch up their differences with Samsung and be involved as business partners once again. Apple has reportedly ordered 100 million OLED panels from Samsung, who continue to be the market leader in terms of display panels.
The American giant is reportedly ready to move to this technology since it will help reduce costs compared with the LCD panels. The display manufacturing sector of Samsung has reportedly signed a $2.5 billion deal with Apple to supply the huge number of parts. It remains to be seen if OLED technology makes its debut on the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, which could be launched in a few months.
Given the timing of the deal, it is highly unlikely that those panels will be available for the upcoming generation. They are more likely to be available for the 2017 models. Apple may choose to launch the iPhone 7S with OLED as its headline technology. There are very few OLED phones available in the market. LG has dominated the proceedings in this aspect.
So far, Apple has failed to achieve its objective of launching flagship smartphones with OLED panels due to availability constraints. The manufacturers are available but their production numbers will have to be far greater to match the demand of the iPhone. A deal with a giant like Samsung may just be the impetus to start switching to OLED panels.
Rather than come out with two versions of the iPhone, Apple is reportedly going to offer the iPhone 7 Plus in a camera centric variant as well. This version may come with a dual camera setup and will have a 5.8-inch screen. The iPhone 7 is expected to retain the 4.7-inch size, which has proven to be so popular since the arrival of the iPhone 6. The marginal increase in the screen size of the iPhone 7 Plus could happen due to slimmer bezels.