LG Display to start supplying display panels to Apple in H2 2018

While LG has recently confirmed that it has not produced a single OLED display panel for Apple yet, things are about the change this year. According to a new report by The Investor, LG Display is expected to start shipping OLED panels for the iPhone in the second half of 2018.

The report citing industry sources claims, "the first shipments will not be large, totaling about 15-16 million screens for the year." This means Samsung Display will continue to supply the majority of OLED panels for the future iPhones as Apple usually sells over 200 million units of iPhone every year. Samsung Display currently produces more than 10 million screens per month.

As of now, we have received no official confirmation from Apple or LG on this matter. However, the latter had earlier said that it was in talks with the iPhone maker over a possible deal. If this report is to be believed, Apple wants to rely less on Samsung.

The report further reveals the possible display sizes of the upcoming iPhones. Samsung Display is likely to produce smaller 5.8- or 6-inch panels, whereas LG Display will focus more on making larger 6.5-inch screens.

This indicates that there could be two variants of the 2018 model of iPhones. One will have a similar size to that of the iPhone X, and a Plus variant which may feature a huge screen.

The information about the two 2018 iPhone variants from The Investor is in line with earlier details revealed by the renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities, who has a good track record of foretelling accurate information about Apple's plans.

Kuo had stated that Apple will launch three iPhones this year. One of the OLED models is said to have a 5.8-inch display just like the iPhone X and the other OLED model is expected to flaunt a larger 6.5-inch display and it could be the iPhone XI Plus. The third model is said to feature an LCD display with the size of 6.1-inch.

Having said all that, until we receive an official confirmation, we should take the report with a pinch of salt or two.