Samsung reportedly spending $21B to expand OLED capacity for 'iPhone 8,' future devices
Possibly flush with OLED screen orders for the "iPhone 8," Samsung is reportedly beefing up its production capacity by building new factories at a pair of new sites in South Korea.

Citing sources within the supply chain, ET News claims that Samsung has started planning a new "A5" plant with capacities between 180,000 and 270,000 panels per month. The plants said to be located in Cheonin and Asan, South Korea are expected to cost around $1.75 billion for the facility alone, and another $14 billion for equipment for OLED fabrication, with total costs for the two facilities coming in at around $21 billion.
Friday's report is similar to one from April, which claimed that Samsung would have to dole out $8.8 billion in 2017 to boost capacity and convert a LCD plant to produce OLED screens.
The ET News report claims that this new factory is being built in anticipation of further demand from smartphone manufacturers, and mass-production of 10-inch foldable displays.
Also in April, reports started circulating about a ramped-up OLED contract between Apple and Samsung. The contact, confirmed by multiple sources inside the supply chain, is said to be an escalation of the $4.3 billion one signed in February for 60 million panels.
The current "A3" plant builds 180,000 screens per month, according to the report. The plans for the new facilities are reportedly not set yet, with a board of directors meeting scheduled for July to hammer out the details.
Apple's "iPhone 8" is expected to be revealed alongside the "iPhone 7s" family in the fall of 2017, and use a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED panel with a 5.1-inch practical area, the rest being dedicated to virtual buttons. Other features rumored to be included in the device are a 3D facial scanner, and other sensors embedded in the front glass of the device.

Citing sources within the supply chain, ET News claims that Samsung has started planning a new "A5" plant with capacities between 180,000 and 270,000 panels per month. The plants said to be located in Cheonin and Asan, South Korea are expected to cost around $1.75 billion for the facility alone, and another $14 billion for equipment for OLED fabrication, with total costs for the two facilities coming in at around $21 billion.
Friday's report is similar to one from April, which claimed that Samsung would have to dole out $8.8 billion in 2017 to boost capacity and convert a LCD plant to produce OLED screens.
The ET News report claims that this new factory is being built in anticipation of further demand from smartphone manufacturers, and mass-production of 10-inch foldable displays.
Also in April, reports started circulating about a ramped-up OLED contract between Apple and Samsung. The contact, confirmed by multiple sources inside the supply chain, is said to be an escalation of the $4.3 billion one signed in February for 60 million panels.
The current "A3" plant builds 180,000 screens per month, according to the report. The plans for the new facilities are reportedly not set yet, with a board of directors meeting scheduled for July to hammer out the details.
Apple's "iPhone 8" is expected to be revealed alongside the "iPhone 7s" family in the fall of 2017, and use a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED panel with a 5.1-inch practical area, the rest being dedicated to virtual buttons. Other features rumored to be included in the device are a 3D facial scanner, and other sensors embedded in the front glass of the device.
Comments
The other mobile device manufacturers are still going to be left in the cold.
The entire mobile market is going to move to bendable and foldable devices. The real caveat is that they will only be available in large numbers from Samsung and Apple. LG can produce them also, but to a much smaller degree. The Chinese OEMs will have to pay through the nose to access the technology and cannot produce low cost devices to undercut Samsung's and Apple's offerings. Samsung is nearly untouchable now with respect to the technology. This is going to bite Google hard. Like getting caught in the jaw of an alligator.
Short of a North Korean invasion, there will be only two dominant players in mobile. Samsung and Apple. Android is still going to be displaced. Samsung is committed to it and as the dominant components manufacturer with control of all of the critical component technologies, they are well-positioned to make it happen. It is already happening in the Android wear arena. Samsung continues to aggressively update and advance the Gear line while the android wear manufacturers are sluggish and poorly committed. The Gear S3 classic now comes with LTE. It is far better than anything made by Huawei, LG or Xiaomi. Manufacturers are actually decommitting from Android wear as Motorola has no plans to manufacture future watches.
And with LTE, the Gear watches stomp all over the Android wear devices in battery life. Tizen runs like a champ on low end hardware also.
Samsung knows where the market is headed. And they are pioneering the hardware to make it happen. Google hypes the software, but the fact remains unchanged, superior hardware is where the true advances come from. Software can only be written to the capabilities of the hardware. Samsung knows it. Apple knows it. Google is about to become painfully aware of it.
...if the report is true.
samsung Is able to try things because they know apple will be a client
both apple and Samsung are the main beneficiaries of this but others are too.
Update
Found the video of Apples "Navigator" concept video:
If Apple could get iOS to the point that the Navigator video alludes too they would sell one hell of a lot more iPads.
Yes, they have locked up the future of hardware - but the reality is that the game has shifted completely to ecosystem. And in that space, Apple, Amazon and Google have gone way ahead of what Samsung can ever hope for. Even if Tizen is actually better than Android, it is unlikely that Samsung can ever create the developer ecosystem for Tizen that Apple and Google have.
In couple of years, the hardware will reach a point where it no longer matters. All hardware will be so good, that differentiation from hardware will cease to matter. With displays being the biggest battery guzzlers, in 2 years time, phone battery life will cross a point where it no longer is a concern. At which point, prices for even the most fancy hardware will start to drop.
Effectively, the only thing Samsung is doing, is bearing the costs and the risks for Apple and others to adopt future technologies. Not a smart strategy by any stretch.
And if Apple decides something like that, Samsung would be screwed. They need Apple more than Apple needs them.