Apple's plans for an OLED iPhone might hinge on small Japanese firm
Apple is rumored to introduce its first OLED iPhone model in 2017, but the company's ability to produce next-generation displays at scale could hinge on the availability of machines made by a single Japanese firm.
Canon Tokki's ELVESS OLED manufacturing system.
Detailed in a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple's search for the best OLED panels on the market ends at Canon Tokki, a small branch of Japanese imaging giant Canon ("tokki," roughly translated, means "special equipment").
With only 343 employees, Canon Tokki spent the last 20 years perfecting the machines suppliers like Samsung, LG and Sharp use to manufacture OLED screens. According to the report, almost all OLED panels in production are built using the firm's equipment.
However, even after doubling output in 2016, Canon Tokki builds less than 10 units per year, the report said. Due to the slow turnaround time, the outfit has a backlog of orders stretching out to about two years.
Canon Tokki's latest OLED solution, the $85 million ELVESS OLED, is a self-contained, 100-meter long vacuum production line that deposits red, green and blue pixels on a glass surface through a vapor deposition process.
Unique to Canon Tokki's process, and the reason why ELVESS is in such high demand, is a patented camera tracking mechanism that allows the machine to lay down pixels with an extremely narrow margin of error. This capability helps minimize defects, thereby improving raw yield.
With a near monopoly on a machine vital to the OLED production process, Canon Tokki is central to Apple's rumored plans to integrate the screen technology in a next-generation iPhone. Of note, after Foxconn purchased display maker Sharp in March, chairman Terry Gou told employees he personally visited Canon Tokki's headquarters in Niigata to secure an order. Whether or not that trip was successful is unclear.
As it stands, OLED suppliers are hard-pressed to meet existing orders for smartphones that incorporate the technology, like Samsung's Galaxy line and more recently Google's Pixel. Considering Apple's normal shipping volumes, an iPhone featuring OLED technology is likely to increase panel demand by a large magnitude.
Apple is widely rumored to launch at least one OLED-toting iPhone model for the device's 10th anniversary next year, with recent reports claiming the high-end unit will incorporate curved panels from Samsung. The company is expected to at the same time debut two "s" cycle upgrades, likely "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus," but reports conflict as to whether those models will also get the OLED treatment.
Canon Tokki's ELVESS OLED manufacturing system.
Detailed in a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple's search for the best OLED panels on the market ends at Canon Tokki, a small branch of Japanese imaging giant Canon ("tokki," roughly translated, means "special equipment").
With only 343 employees, Canon Tokki spent the last 20 years perfecting the machines suppliers like Samsung, LG and Sharp use to manufacture OLED screens. According to the report, almost all OLED panels in production are built using the firm's equipment.
However, even after doubling output in 2016, Canon Tokki builds less than 10 units per year, the report said. Due to the slow turnaround time, the outfit has a backlog of orders stretching out to about two years.
Canon Tokki's latest OLED solution, the $85 million ELVESS OLED, is a self-contained, 100-meter long vacuum production line that deposits red, green and blue pixels on a glass surface through a vapor deposition process.
Unique to Canon Tokki's process, and the reason why ELVESS is in such high demand, is a patented camera tracking mechanism that allows the machine to lay down pixels with an extremely narrow margin of error. This capability helps minimize defects, thereby improving raw yield.
With a near monopoly on a machine vital to the OLED production process, Canon Tokki is central to Apple's rumored plans to integrate the screen technology in a next-generation iPhone. Of note, after Foxconn purchased display maker Sharp in March, chairman Terry Gou told employees he personally visited Canon Tokki's headquarters in Niigata to secure an order. Whether or not that trip was successful is unclear.
As it stands, OLED suppliers are hard-pressed to meet existing orders for smartphones that incorporate the technology, like Samsung's Galaxy line and more recently Google's Pixel. Considering Apple's normal shipping volumes, an iPhone featuring OLED technology is likely to increase panel demand by a large magnitude.
Apple is widely rumored to launch at least one OLED-toting iPhone model for the device's 10th anniversary next year, with recent reports claiming the high-end unit will incorporate curved panels from Samsung. The company is expected to at the same time debut two "s" cycle upgrades, likely "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus," but reports conflict as to whether those models will also get the OLED treatment.
Comments
Gruber makes an interesting point, which is that color accuracy with OLED kind of sucks. That could be a legit reason for Apple sticking with LCD.
OLED feels like just another spec race that Apple hasn't played to date. And I think that's okay. The screen on my 7 Plus is fantastic and my battery life rocks. Why do I need OLED?
As is frequently said, Apple is very often not the company that originally comes up with an innovative and creative implementation but more often than not is the one that gets it right when they decide to use it.
I can appreciate the aesthetic appeal (or at least novelty) of an edge-to-edge display. Can that be done with LCD?
The whole flexible display thing, though, strikes me as a gimmick.
I generally think Apple makes good choices regarding the iPhone. Their significant investment in custom SOC development has given them a really amazing lead in performance. I'll take great performance over Samsung's Edge gimmick any day.
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2016/12/a-leading-supplier-of-foldable-display-technology-confirms-five-tech-companies-are-testing-foldable-smartphones.html
Canon Tokki is not the only manufacturer of high quality OLED production tools.
LG panels will be manufactured using Sunic systems equipment.
http://www.oled-a.org/news_details.cfm?ID=1239
With LG going to another supplier, it is conceivable that Canon Tokki might be able to deliver the manufacturing equipment to another company such as Sharp or JDI. However, LG has very aggressive plans in the OLED space.
With the expertise already possessed by LG in the space, the question becomes one of why Apple wouldn't just contract out with LG to build the panels as opposed to trying to acquire equipment from Canon Tokki and potentially experiencing another debacle on the order of GT-AT with the sapphire glass. After all, LG is already building ultrafine displays which Apple sells. The company also manufactures the p-OLED panels used in the Apple watch.
If LG is successful using Sunic systems equipment, they will building large quantities of high quality OLED panels for lower cost than ones built by another manufacturer using Canon Tokki equipment.
The interesting thing that the link touched on was the fact that LG's Gen 6 E5 fab is producing flexible OLED panels which tend to go into smaller devices. The E5 fab won't be using manufacturing equipment built by Canon Tokki.
If Apple goes the route of Canon Tokki, it's a huge risk. They might get stuck paying much higher costs for OLED panels than other companies who source OLED panels from LG.
The details are incredible. 45,000 55 inch panels at 100% yield per month.
Further if you're referring to AirPod delays, those were clearly something outside his personal purview. But once they got stock they moved them immediately -- mine, originally 4 weeks delayed, get here Tuesday.
Me too. It's odd that they don't include the byline.