Sharp CEO supposedly confirms Apple to use OLED in next-generation iPhone
Newly appointed CEO of Japanese display maker Sharp, Tai Jeng-wu, this weekend seemingly confirmed widespread rumors claiming Apple plans to incorporate OLED panels in a next-generation iPhone.
Tai commented on Apple's future plans in an address to students at his alma mater Tatung University, which on Saturday presented the tech industry executive with an honorary doctorate degree, Nikkei reports.
"The iPhone has been evolving and now it is switching from LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) to OLED panels," Tai said. "We don't know whether Apple's OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if Apple doesn't walk down this path and transform itself, there will be no innovation. It is a crisis but it is also an opportunity."
Tai, who was appointed to his position at Sharp in August and also acts as an executive at its new parent company Foxconn, is in a position to know. Sharp has for years supplied LCD panels to Apple for use in a variety of products, while Foxconn handles a large bulk of the U.S. tech giant's manufacturing.
The chief executive went on to say that Sharp is building out a new OLED facility in Japan, adding the company could potentially produce OLED panels in the U.S. if so required.
"If our key customer demands us to manufacture in the U.S., is it possible for us not to do so?" Tai said.
Beyond the brief mention, however, Tai failed to offer specifics on a potential OLED iPhone launch timeline. The context of Tai's comments are also unknown, and the missive might simply be commentary on rumors dating back to last year.
Industry insiders expect Apple to launch a next-generation iPhone with flexible OLED display and unique "glass sandwich" design in 2017. Reports in June indicated both Samsung and Sharp planned to OLED shipments by the end of 2017, likely in anticipation of massive orders from Apple.
Whether Sharp has the capability to ramp up production assets in time is unclear. Last month, the display maker announced plans to infuse $568 million into its OLED business as soon as the second quarter of 2018.
Tai commented on Apple's future plans in an address to students at his alma mater Tatung University, which on Saturday presented the tech industry executive with an honorary doctorate degree, Nikkei reports.
"The iPhone has been evolving and now it is switching from LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) to OLED panels," Tai said. "We don't know whether Apple's OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if Apple doesn't walk down this path and transform itself, there will be no innovation. It is a crisis but it is also an opportunity."
Tai, who was appointed to his position at Sharp in August and also acts as an executive at its new parent company Foxconn, is in a position to know. Sharp has for years supplied LCD panels to Apple for use in a variety of products, while Foxconn handles a large bulk of the U.S. tech giant's manufacturing.
The chief executive went on to say that Sharp is building out a new OLED facility in Japan, adding the company could potentially produce OLED panels in the U.S. if so required.
"If our key customer demands us to manufacture in the U.S., is it possible for us not to do so?" Tai said.
Beyond the brief mention, however, Tai failed to offer specifics on a potential OLED iPhone launch timeline. The context of Tai's comments are also unknown, and the missive might simply be commentary on rumors dating back to last year.
Industry insiders expect Apple to launch a next-generation iPhone with flexible OLED display and unique "glass sandwich" design in 2017. Reports in June indicated both Samsung and Sharp planned to OLED shipments by the end of 2017, likely in anticipation of massive orders from Apple.
Whether Sharp has the capability to ramp up production assets in time is unclear. Last month, the display maker announced plans to infuse $568 million into its OLED business as soon as the second quarter of 2018.
Comments
All in his first 30 days on the job. What a joke
Edit: fixed a couple typos
The two models should be equal in everything except size.
Also I still haven't seen an iPhone mockup that makes sense of the rumour or an on screen home button. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Home button in iPhone 8 embedded into a shorter chin somehow. If it's on screen how don't I hit it while typing on this keyboard, would it not be in the way of my space bar? And it it only appears when I hit 'done', wouldn't the slightest of software bugs hide the button away from me.
No one seems to have cracked this yet. If it's two taps to get to the home button like we see on some Android phones that will be a worse UX than now.
Statement 2: "It is a crisis but it is also an opportunity.""
Both are false. Apple continues to innovate in many ways, including the recent Wide Color inclusion. And this certainly is not a "crisis"; that's pure hyperbole.
Newer display tech will allow for putting the display around objects:
http://www.sharp-world.com/corporate/news/140618.html
but the objects are still larger than the holes at the front of the iPhone. The iPhone front-facing camera used to be in the middle at the top but was moved to the left on the iPhone 6. They should be able to reduce the bezel size but I can't see them putting the display all the way up and down. The following Android phone (Oppo) has an edge to edge screen and clean upper and lower bezels:
The following Elephone P9000 has a similar layout:
I don't think the screen going all the way to the edge looks nice, the second one looks nicer where the display remains flat. They can have a printed home icon at the bottom like that and the bottom bezel can become a gesture bar. When you activate multi-tasking just now, the current app slides to the right so the gesture bar could have a slide from left to right gesture and it would pull the current app over and the other apps can pull along with the gesture and you'd slide left to put it back. They'd have to allow for landscape orientation.
The display could go all the way down if they remove the physical home button and show contextual icons like a back button in Safari but I think use of that part of the display would be restricted so that it doesn't make the front look uneven. They could put a finger print icon at the bottom on raise-to-wake and they could animate the scan. They could also put media controls on it when music is playing and the main display is off to avoid having to power on the display to pause or switch tracks.
They can't improve the appearance of the upper bezel much, people will always need a speaker for calls and a front-facing camera. I think the cleanest they can make this is to have the hole for the camera in the middle and have the speaker round the outside of it.
To make something like in the article image, they have to fix the speaker and camera to the back surface of the phone rather than the front and just leave a hole in the display and extrude those components away from the back. It might be tricky to seal that up and make it even in every phone. Again though, I don't think they'd split the display like that because people would have to swipe over the speaker and camera.
Uh, yes. Yes it is possible, because customers don't own you. Weird dude.