Apple Pressing LG to Add OLED Display Production for 2018 iPhone, Limiting Samsung's Leverage

[nia820]

LG? No thanks. LG doesn't have the best track record with displays.

 

[kdarling]

What are the chances Apple may have to do this again once mLED gains foothold? Making sure they have multiple supply sources that is.

If anything, in the mere future, we might see micro LED make its debut at some point.

Micro LED (aka inorganic LED) is a non-starter at this point and (barring some kind of breakthrough) for much of the next decade. It's the Liquid Metal of displays. Always talked about by fans, but not very useful yet.

Plus OLED continues to improve and get less expensive. And Apple loves their profit margin these days more than anything.

Without Tim Cook, Apple would have never been able to make 1+ billion iPhones - - keeping the components supplies flowing at these extreme numbers is far from a trivial task.

Tim Cook hasn't been in charge of component supply since 2011, when he took over as CEO and left his COO job... a job title that no longer exists, btw. Someone else took over his responsibilities years ago.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Sadly, the unfortunate outsourcing history, with investments and last moment desinvestments in GT Advanced and strategic investments in Corning, their own advances in advanced ceramics tech, their LED patents, Cook's references to their own supremacy, and then outsourcing seem to prove different.
It shows a less deliberate outsourcing strategy, with continous sailing on both ends. Which can be OK if it can match demand, i.e. by securing enough yield for their flagship introductions.
That's the whole idea of souvereignty, and it doesn't look well if a market leader comes to depend on its largest competitor...
Prioritizing - of the wrong kind(s)
Overtime - too late if you have to defend market leadership when launching billions of devices

I would agree the sapphire glass investment was bad. However, their investment in CPU/SOC and GPU technology investments and acquisitions have been spot on. And their sovereignty is rock solid in that area. Relying on LG and Samsung for screens is not a problem as they sell it to everyone (apple and their competitors).

Investing and developing their own sources of screens may come in the future. However, since there is a stable and large industrial base for this component ---- their money and time is better spent elsewhere for differentiation. Like CPU/SOC, GPU, RAM and AR.
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LG? No thanks. LG doesn't have the best track record with displays.

Any information on that from industry or is that an opinion?
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Pretty slim based on the 7 years it has taken them to put OLED into a phone after Samsung did it with the S2.

Personally, I don't expect to see mLED in Apple products for at least another 7-10 years, and they could go the way of Nokia and Blackberry by then if they keep adopting new features years after their competitors.

Go the way of Blackberry and Nokia??? Really? That is an absurd statement.

 

[teamgibbs]

I feel like I am reading the same articles about components like screens every single year.

Is the investment simply to large, maybe the technology is too completely locked down by patents for Apple to take screen manufacturing in house.

I knows it would cost billions and years to get there but would't that pay off in the long run to be making your own components?

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

It's like they are playing two sides off against each other.

 

[BeefCake 15]

LG? No thanks. LG doesn't have the best track record with displays.

[Citation Needed]

 

[kdarling]

I knows it would cost billions and years to get there but would't that pay off in the long run to be making your own components?

I don't think Apple is really keen about the idea of having to take care of factory workers, buildings, environmental issues, or all the other junk that goes along with actually having your own factory.

Plus perhaps the GTAT sapphire debacle, where Apple got a bit too involved, also has made them wary.

It's a lot easier to just use and invest in contract manufacturers.

 

[Delgibbons]

Remember the quality of this LG monitor? *cough*

http://www.techradar.com/news/hardware-problems-prompt-apple-to-pull-the-plug-on-lgs-5k-monitor

 

[raghu8912]

LG? No thanks. LG doesn't have the best track record with displays.

LG is the only manufacturer who can make OLED TV Display, Samsung is good at OLED phone displays.

 

[SkankHunt42]

Apple has invested in its own chipmaking capabilities, why not invest in display making capabilities as well (as opposed to outsourcing))?

 

[lec0rsaire]

Yeah but those displays sucked BAD real bad.

OLED always had some advantages to LCD but it was HORRIBLE when it came to color accuracy, which was OK because it was relatively young tech.

They caught up about 2 years ago and are now very competitive if not better in some instances (if factory calibrated).

So... Apple is not that late on this, I'm happy they waited those months, because I need accurate colors on my displays.

Great point! Apple has always strived for great color accuracy. The 7 and 7 plus have really great color as well as the latest MacBook Pro screens. The difference viewing photos on either screen is remarkable compared to other devices and even older Apple products.

 

[MacBH928]

iPhone 8 has "display defects" written on all over it.

That being said, Apple might as well just buy a display manufacturer with heir $60B and make their own displays since everything they sell has a display from Apple Watches to iMacs.

Also surprising that LG needs help with OLED since LG is the only manufacturer of TV with OLED tvs out there in the market.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Apple has invested in its own chipmaking capabilities, why not invest in display making capabilities as well (as opposed to outsourcing))?

Apple has invested in chip design and engineering capabilities. It still contracts the production out. However, they have been getting closer to TSMC and taken an investment stake in that company. They obviously see having "sovereignty" over the CPU/SOC and GPU as being more critical than the screen.

 

[wikiverse]

Go the way of Blackberry and Nokia??? Really? That is an absurd statement.

Why?

If you had suggested in 2007 that Nokia - the world's most popular phone brand at that time - would no longer be making phones in 2014 (7 years later), everyone would have said 'that's an absurd statement'.

No company is immune from disruptive smaller companies and new entrants that can innovate faster.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Why?

If you had suggested in 2007 that Nokia - the world's most popular phone brand at that time - would no longer be making phones in 2014 (7 years later), everyone would have said 'that's an absurd statement'.

No company is immune from disruptive smaller companies and new entrants that can innovate faster.

I would concur on that general business statement. Nokia died because it didn't have a competitive smart phone with the software ecostystem that Apple and Android offers. This is not the case with Apple and you are arguing whether or not they design or build their own screens as the basis for that --- which is not a valid business assessment. Apple's phone business will do great with Samsung or LG or whomever's screens. Their differentiation an value is in a different part of the component/design stack.

The S8 or other Android phone is not going to disrupt the iPhone business environment as it stands currently.

 

[raghu8912]

Apple has invested in its own chipmaking capabilities, why not invest in display making capabilities as well (as opposed to outsourcing))?

Apple just designs the SOC, they don't manufacture the SOC.

 

[cgsnipinva]

Apple just designs the SOC, they don't manufacture the SOC.

Well to be accurate they have invested in TSMC and seem to be consolidating their CPU/SOC chip manufacturing there. All they need to do is increase their stock shares and they will effectively have production capabilities.