No doubt, recent flagship smartphones, and other display products make use of OLED screens. In the OLED market, Samsung remains the best. In fact, it has a huge chunk of the market share. Although some manufacturers go to the likes of BOE and Visionox, Samsung remains the best. Apple has been one of Samsung’s major OLED customers since the launch of iPhone X. However, it appears that the development of mini LED screens could threaten Samsung.
According to recent reports, Apple is accelerating the promotion of products that replace OLED screens. The company is using its influence on mobile hardware space and mini LED screens is an important step. Presently, reports claim that the negotiations between Apple and component manufacturers are coming to an end. There are even reports that some suppliers have received orders for the upcoming iPad Pro. Furthermore, there are also orders for mini LED screens for the new MacBook Pro models.
The existing supplier for the iPad Pro is Yongfeng Electronics. However, the likes of Zhending Technology and Flexium Interconnect will join the supply chain. The iPad Pro will officially arrive in 2021.
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This information is consistent with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s previous report that Apple’s Mini LED devices appear to be delayed until the first quarter of 2021. Prior to this, Kuo had expected that Apple would release six devices with Mini LED screens by the end of 2020, from iPad mini to iMac Pro will be released before the end of 2020.
Apple is exploring mini LED displays using 10,000 LEDs, each less than 200 microns. Because there are more LEDs and more dimming areas, the mini LED display can provide darker or darker blacks, higher brightness, richer colors, and greater contrast.
Apple is working on alternatives to LCD and OLED Panels
The emergence of the iPhone X marks the gradual shift of Apple phones to OLED panels. Nowadays, the proportion of the display screen in the BOM cost is quite high and Apple is preparing alternatives. Apple’s iPads and MacBook still use LCD displays. For these products, the company will probably shift to mini LED as soon as the first quarter of next year. Basically, a mini LED is still LCD but the finer backlight can achieve higher brightness, better grayscale, and contrast. For its OLED products, the company will consider the MicroLED panel. This technology uses inorganic gallium nitride light-emitting materials, which have a longer life, higher brightness, and lower power consumption. The entire display module can also be thinner, but the disadvantage is that its production cost is high.
