Apple is expected to invest heavily on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays next year, something that is speculated to be used on the iPhone 8 or even the MacBook Pro. But the current stock of OLED may be a cause for concern, especially considering the Cupertino company is not the only one shifting to the new screen display.
There are other companies aggressively trying to make the shift. Oppo is one of them who initially planned to ship 60 million smartphones to China in 2016. The latest from DigiTimes however bares that Samsung’s production of OLED displays may not hit its target, hitting only 100 million this 2016.
Shortage or delay to OLED technology?
With due consideration to the demand and the potential lack of OLED stocks, Apple and other brands like Oppo could do one of two things.
One is that their production of units could be lowered, meaning delays are to be expected. If not, the other recourse is to find some alternative display to use which could be risky.
Apple the prime mover of OLED
For Apple, the turn to OLED display covers the iPhone and the MacBook Pro. At the moment, they use OLED displays on the Apple Watch.
There are other suppliers to turn to but as Apple Insider notes, none of those companies come close to approaching the volume that Samsung can do. They also hold the OLED technology patents which means quality is in question.
Right now these foreseen issues are hardly expected to be felt. The brunt of it all is likely to go down once 2017 comes in. Samsung itself has a list of products that rely on OLED technology. Hence, unless the Korean company is able to find some way to ramp up productions, there could be dire issues for the market next year.
