With excitement ramping up for the iPhone 8, it will please Apple fans to know that the company is testing more than 10 prototypes for new iPhones that could go on sale next year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some of those prototypes may have a new design centered around a curved screen.
The technology that would enable that curved screen is called OLED, which is a newer kind of display that has deeper blacks and lower power consumption.
The fact that Apple will need tens of millions of these OLED screens for next year is setting off a race among screen makers, including Samsung, LG Display, Foxconn-owned Sharp, and Japan Display.
The WSJ says that Samsung will supply "most" of Apple's initial OLED needs, confirming what Bloomberg reported earlier.
The technology that would enable that curved screen is called OLED, which is a newer kind of display that has deeper blacks and lower power consumption.
The fact that Apple will need tens of millions of these OLED screens for next year is setting off a race among screen makers, including Samsung, LG Display, Foxconn-owned Sharp, and Japan Display.
The WSJ says that Samsung will supply "most" of Apple's initial OLED needs, confirming what Bloomberg reported earlier.
It seems that while Samsung might have the capacity, the others might have a bit of trouble with reports indicating that Sharp would need to spend more than $5 billion to develop the technology and capacity to supply OLED screens to Apple.
"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," Sharp chief executive Tai Jeng-wu said last month.
iPhone sales have suffered something of a dip in recent times and there is pressure mounting on the company to produce a phone that gets them back on top of things.
The iPhone 8 is supposed to be that product and it is rumoured that it will feature glass casing, wireless charging, and a new edge-to-edge screen design, in addition to the latest chips and technologies.
"iPhone 8 design didn't sound 100% locked down but we believe the move is to a bezel-less design with screen sizes getting larger and curved edges in the original envelope," writes Barclays
10 prototypes are being tested and it's possible that the OLED screen might not see the light of day and it might be a case of Apple going with what is available and what can be supplied by their Asian partners.
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