LG may supply OLED display for next Apple iPhone

Samsung may soon not be the only supplier of OLED displays for Apple. The iPhone maker is reportedly finalising talks with LG on an OLED supply deal which could see the latter provide its panels for this year's iPhone with edge-to-edge display.

"LG is likely to ship a relatively small number of panels -- 15 to 16 million -- in the second half of the year," AppleInsider reported late on Wednesday.

"Apple is said to have pumped $2.7 billion into LG as an advance payment for OLED panels. At the time it was thought that the order was for panels shipping in 2019," the report added.

This year's iPhone is expected to be a mega-sized version of the iPhone X and could be purportedly named "iPhone X Plus".The Cupertino-based giant is expected to launch a 5.8-inch device alongside a 6.5-inch iPhone with OLED displays. 

LG Display will supply Apple with the 6.5-inch OLED panels while Samsung will supply the 5.8-inch or 6-inch OLED panels, according to MacRumors.The LCD panels which are currently being used in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are supplied by LG.

However, its South Korean rival Samsung dominates supply of OLED displays for Apple's flagship iPhone X. It is believed that Apple will switch to OLED displays for all of its iPhone releases in 2019. 

This is the reason Apple roped in LG to be its OLED display supplier when it already had Samsung -- that owns 95 per cent market share of mobile OLED panels -- in its league. 
It is not just Apple that is investing in LG OLED display. Google has also realised LG's potential and invested $900 million in OLED production for its first OLED smartphone, an earlier Investor report said.