2017 could see just one OLED iPhone

Display supply might not meet demand, writes Caitlin McGarry

Long-time Apple watchers have speculated that next year’s iPhones will move from LCD to OLED displays, but this week a strange rumour emerged from a reliable Apple analyst: next year, Apple will release three iPhones, and only one of them will have an OLED display. Now we know why that could be. Apple would love to bring OLED to its entire iPhone lineup, but the supply isn’t there, Bloomberg reported. OLED display makers Samsung, Sharp, LG, and Japan Display are working to produce panels, but Sharp and Japan Display won’t kick production into high gear until 2018. LG is also lagging after spending years making OLED displays for television.

According to Bloomberg, that leaves Samsung, which has an exclusive agreement to produce OLED displays for iPhones next year. But Apple sells a ton of phones: the company has reportedly put

in an order for 100 million units to prep for next year’s holiday quarter, and Samsung might not be able to make enough. It might not even be able to produce half that amount.

Last year, Apple sold 75 million iPhones over the Christmas period, and if Samsung can’t pull through, then the company won’t be able to put OLED displays in every phone.

The 10th anniversary OLED iPhone

KGI Securities is predicting that Apple will release an all-glass iPhone 8 with an edgeto-edge 5.2in OLED display. The company reportedly plans to ditch the bezel and embed the Home button directly in the screen.

But there will be two more models, 4.7- and 5.5in LCD iPhones similar to the ones available to buy right now. KGI expects the prices to drop on those models, which won’t see design overhauls but will have upgraded internals (and optical image stabilization is reportedly in the works for the 5.5in model’s telephoto lens).

If Apple introduced OLED in just one model of the next-generation iPhone, it would be a surprising departure, though not without precedent – with the iPhone 7 Plus, the company put a dual-lens camera system in just one phone. But displays are a different story. An edge-to-edge OLED screen would change the iPhone experience.

Of course, display suppliers could come through and enable Apple to overhaul its entire line-up. But with the recent spate of rumours, it seems like the company is establishing expectations for a lone OLED iPhone.