Apple and Samsung reach consensus on OLED orders to squeeze out domestic mobile phones

Apple has expanded its cooperation with Samsung Display, a display panel company under Samsung, and has added a contract to purchase 60 million OLED panels. Together with the purchase agreement for 100 million OLED panels reached between Samsung Display and Apple at the end of last year, Samsung will provide Apple with 160 million OLED panels. This may directly make it difficult for domestic manufacturers to purchase Samsung OLED screens in the first place, which will in turn affect the development of domestic mobile phones this year.

What is Apple's intention in increasing orders?

First of all, according to Apple's usual routine, it will definitely bring out its new iPhone 8 this fall. Some relevant people have previously revealed that the iPhone 8 may use an OLED screen. Judging from the current data, this is basically a done deal. As we all know, the previous generations of iPhone products basically use Retina screens, which are essentially LCD screens, and the screen resolution is only 1080P for the Plus. Why do they need to use such a large number of OLED screens this year? What does this mean?

The release of iPhone 8 is also the 10th anniversary of Apple. Therefore, if the iPhone 6 series and the iPhone 7 series are designed in the same way, many Apple fans will be lost. For example, the sales of iPhone 7 this year fell. The most direct reason is that there is little innovation. Apple fans are not very eager to change their phones. Although Samsung Note 7 has helped, the "paint peeling" and "strange noise" incidents have discouraged users who want to change their phones. For this year's new iPhone, Apple is bound to be holding back a big move to attract more consumers.

Another point that cannot be ignored is Apple's VR device. Due to its own good performance, OLED screens have always been the first choice for VR screens. Some time ago, it was reported that Apple was expanding its VR system, and coupled with the acquisition of some well-known virtual reality technology companies, I believe that Apple's VR will also be released soon.

OLED will replace LCD with its advantages

OLED screens have huge advantages over traditional LCD screens, but early OLEDs faced many quality issues. For example, the colors are too strong, the lifespan is lower than LCD, and the sparse pixel arrangement leads to obvious graininess. These problems have always appeared on Samsung flagship models at the beginning. As the technology has developed and Samsung has been deeply involved in OLED in recent years, OLED screens have finally exploded and previous problems have been solved. It seems that in an instant, OLED has taken over the dominant position of LCD in the mobile phone industry.

The biggest technical difference between OLED and LCD is whether they are "self-luminous". OLED has a simpler structure, and each pixel can control when to emit light and when not to emit light (for example, when displaying dark tones, OLED is completely black, while the LCD screen still emits light across the entire panel). This essential difference has formed a natural technical barrier between OLED and LCD. Of course, in addition to whether it is self-luminous or not, OLED screens can be designed to be thinner and bendable. This will free up more space for the phone to accommodate batteries or other components in a limited space. Power saving is also a major selling point of OLED. It is because of power saving that Samsung's famous AOD (Anytime Display) function is realized.

Apple's involvement sets off a new climax of OLED

Apple and Samsung have always been the "big brothers" in the mobile phone industry, and have always been the source of "imitation" in the mobile phone industry. From fingerprint recognition to OLED, domestic mobile phones are basically following the footsteps of Apple and Samsung. Although OLED and curved screens are already popular now, Apple's final push will eventually create a storm.

Of course, Apple's move will also bring more problems. Due to technical limitations, OLED is currently in a state of being unable to produce enough products except for Samsung, which has a relatively high quality and yield rate. For example, LG, although it is also a major screen manufacturer, has not yet fully mastered OLED. Last year's Xiaomi Note 2 is a typical example. Although it has an appearance similar to Samsung Note7, it cannot make up for the defects on the screen.

It is said that Huawei, OPPO, and vivo have formed an alliance to invest in domestic OLED screen manufacturers such as Royole Technology to push them to rapidly expand their production capacity to meet their own needs. However, it will take time for OLED to achieve the same high quality and yield as Samsung, so the shortage of OLED screens will definitely have a great impact on the mobile phone market next year.

Domestic smartphones face bottleneck as screen shortages loom

Samsung must be happy to see the increase in Apple's OLED screen orders. Last year, the cost of Samsung's recall of the Note 7 incident was about $1 billion, and Samsung's stock price has been falling. Its market value evaporated by $19 billion in two days, and it suffered heavy direct economic losses. This huge order from Apple can not only make up for Samsung's economic losses last year, but also help Samsung's publicity and further expand its influence in OLED technology.

Although it is of great benefit to Apple and Samsung, it is not good news for domestic mobile phones. Samsung is a company full of routines, and it can be described as a "scheming bitch". Huawei's Ascend P1 released in January 2012 uses a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touch screen. P1 has a good market reputation, but its production capacity has been tight since its launch. One of the important reasons is the insufficient supply of AMOLED screens. In addition to Huawei, OPPO R9 and OnePlus 3 have also used Samsung's Super AMOLED, but they have also been reported to have insufficient production. It is reported that due to the very good market response of several models, Samsung deliberately reduced its screen supply.

Apple purchases a large portion of the OLED screens, which are already in short supply. It is even more difficult for domestic mobile phones to get Samsung screens this year, which will definitely have a strong impact on the domestic mobile phone market. In 2017, the restriction on domestic mobile phones may not be the CPU but the screen. In order to get a better screen, people will pay more for it, which forms a vicious cycle with the electronics market where prices are constantly rising. Therefore, the road for domestic mobile phones will definitely be difficult this year.

Regardless of whether the pressure comes from Samsung or Apple, domestic mobile phones still have a long way to go. This also shows the importance of independent products to the industry. Increasing investment in the research and development of independent products, domestic mobile phones cannot always be equal to "assembled machines" and cannot survive without Samsung, Sony and Qualcomm. Only by truly mastering core technologies can you have more say. This year, domestic mobile phones will definitely find another way under strong pressure, and this year will also be the most important year for the survival of domestic manufacturers.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.