Japan tech giant Sharp has unveiled its OLED panel line designed for handsets, sources indicate. The brand which is owned by Foxconn Group is reportedly aiming to enter the supply chain for future iPhones that would utilise OLED displays. In addition, there are speculations that Fitipower Integrated Technology, another Foxconn company, is engaged in the development of OLED panel driver ICs jointly with Sharp.
OLED seems to be the future of smartphone displays and more LCD panel suppliers are now capable of producing OLED displays for smartphones in commercial volume. As a result, Taiwan-based driver IC firms and related backend houses are gearing up to grow their presence in the OLED panel segment in 2019. According to industry sources, Taiwan-based LCD driver IC firms including Novatek Microelectronics and Himax Technologies, and related backend companies including Chipbond Technology and ChipMOS Technologies are looking to start developing their businesses in the OLED panel sector in 2019. Chinese vendors such as BOE technology and Tainma are also putting efforts to grow their OLED panel supply. A recent data showed that BOE technology surpassed LG in terms of OLED supply for last year and the company is reported to supply Huawei OLED panels. LG Display has also seen improvement in sales of its OLED panels which accounted for over 10% of total panel revenues, according to the sources.
Related: BOE technology edges past LG as it coasts closer to Samsung in AMOLED panel supply
Samsung Display still dominates the market for OLED panel, something it has been doing for quite some time now. AU Optronics (AUO) with its flexible OLED panel technology is also likely to cut into the supply chain of Android phone vendors, the sources continued. The industry is also said to be promoted on mid-range models featuring OLED displays this year and not just on flagships. Meanwhile, foldable smartphones adopting OLED panels are being reportedly regarded as the development focus of major brand vendors for their new generation series this year.
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