Apple might be launching a premium iPhone model with a curved OLED screen display, similar to that seen in top competitor Samsung Electronics, reported Nikkei Asian Review.
Sources told Nikkei reporters: “There will be a 4.7-inch model, another that will be 5.5-inches and a premium handset that will be either 5.5-inches or larger equipped with a screen bent on the two sides."
The two other models will stick to current flat screen Apple mobile devices, this seems to confirm earlier projections by Financial institute Gabelli and Co.’s Hendi Susanto that OLED adoption will be limited in the upcoming iPhone 7, due to limited OLED panel supplies.
Apple plans to overhaul iPhone design next year shows signs that is under pressure from Samsung in a saturating market, analyzed Nikkei.
David Hsieh, a senior director at IHS DisplaySearch noted the premium handset would adopt advanced flexible OLED panels, while two other models will use low-temperature poly-silicon panels.
Samsung Electronic has a monopoly in the small to mid-sized OLED screens, and the South Korean conglomerate was the global leader in smartphone shipments in 2015 and during first quarter of 2016. The company has been a forerunner in the smartphone industry to launch curved OLED displays smartphones, and introduced the curved displays with the e Galaxy Note Edge and Galaxy 6 Edge last year. Its latest product lineup includes two premium handsets, the Galaxy 7 Edge and Note 7, with curved screens.
Hsieh said that Samsung Electronics will become Apple’s sole OLED supplier next year, but that the Korean company would not be able to meet its own demands and that of its U.S. client in 2017.
Jeff Pu, an analyst at Taipei-based Yuanta Investment Consulting, said Apple will probably forego the metal casings fir iPhones, and revamp the smartphone with a front glass cover and chassis, joined by a metal bezel for all its handsets next year.
The Nikkei Asian Review reported in early August that Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, had been developing the glass casing technology since 2015 in advance, so it could win orders from Apple for the new chassis in 2017. Foxconn is a key assembler for iPhones.