Right after Foxconn's acquisition of Japanese display maker Sharp, it is now starting to set up its machinery for large-scale production of AMOLED displays. This is primarily for Apple, which is said to have plans to shift to the better screen than LCD, either by next year or the year after that.
Foxconn is known to be a top supplier of many electronic parts to the computer and smartphone industry. It is also widely known that Foxconn and Apple have had a close working relationship for a number of years now, and it only seems fitting to include display screens among its electronic products.
Digitimes reported that it is estimated that smartphones will eventually shift from LCD screens to AMOLED screens, and it is expected that the demand will triple by 2020. Currently, 3.45 million AMOLED display panels are required, which will rise to 10.24 million panels, and even further by 2025, estimated to reach 13.57 million units.
The report also stated that Sharp is preparing the necessary production machines in order to manufacture several types of the said display screen. It is said that one 4.5G and two 6G production lines are being prepared to be able to meet the demands of the market. The two production lines are said to be able to produce 9.85 million of 5.5-inch display panels in a month.
Furthermore, PhoneArena added that an AMOLED screen is now cheaper to produce than an LCD screen. The report added that IHS Technology's 5.5-inch Full HD Smartphone screens cost US$14.3 for AMOLED and US$14.6 for LCD. If this pricing will go on, and it seems it will, the demand is highly likely to increase for the cheaper display.
Currently, it is only the Apple Watch that uses OLED display. The iPhone, iPad and MacBooks all use an IPS LCD display, which is also not cheap to produce. This may all change within a year or two.
AMOLED offers better image quality and better power efficiency than LCD.
