OLED Displays Coming To All 5G Model Apple iPhones In 2020: Report

All of Apple Inc.'s AAPL 5G smartphones will be equipped with OLED screens in 2020, which is likely to spur competition among display panel suppliers.

What Happened: The Cupertino-based smartphone maker is likely to introduce four 5G models of its iPhones in 2020. All these devices will have organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

Apple first made use of OLED displays in its 2017 model iPhone X and currently has those displays in iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max models. The company’s bestselling device — the iPhone 11 — uses LCD displays.

A source told the Review that Apple’s new iPhones will be equipped with flexible OLED displays but the company was “unable to integrate the Face ID module into the display,” and therefore the newer models will still have a notch or a “fringe.”

Why It Matters: According to the Review, OLED displays can allow a manufacturer to make foldable phones and are in use by manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd SSNLF, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo.

Japan Display Inc JNNDF, which makes 60% of its revenue from selling displays to Apple, will suffer as it lags behind in OLED development.

LG Display Co Ltd LPL, an Apple supplier, has started to produce OLED displays in smaller numbers.

Samsung is expected to be the leader in supplying OLED displays and is likely to corner 74% of the market in 2020. 

On Tuesday, Samsung announced earnings guidance beating analyst expectations with operating profits rising 23% in the second quarter to $6.8 billion. The increased revenues were spurred partly by one-time gains made by the electronic giant’s display unit, which supplies to Apple.