AMOLED Nexus_one_screen_microscopeA new report from Business Korea, quoting information from local industry analyst UBI Research, has added to the chorus of speculation around Apple’s supposed plans for an AMOLED screen on its next iPhone. Given how long Samsung and other vendors have been using the technology, and the stellar results achieved with it, everyone outside the Apple Reality Distortion Field is probably just wondering what took Cupertino so long. But anyway, for iPhone users and anyone still trapped inside Apple’s walled garden, this could be bringing a better iPhone e-reading experience to you. Even though AMOLEDs have been standard technology in other smartphones for years now – at least as far back as the 2010 Nexus One whose wee AMOLED pixels are shown above.

UBI Research’s statements on its 2016 OLED Display Annual Report forecast a 40 percent growth in the value of the AMOLED market from 2015 to 2016, and a consolidated annual growth rate of 46 percent through to 2020. “Investment for flexible AMOLED panel application for Apple’s iPhone, which is leading the total smartphone market with Samsung Electronics, is in consideration,” according to UBI Research, adding elsewhere: “In order to differentiate products, Apple is actively considering flexible AMOLED panel application to iPhone.”

In terms of the kind of differentiation Apple is looking for with that, I can only cite once again DisplayMate‘s report concluding that the Samsung Galaxy S7 has “the Best Performing Smartphone Display that we have ever tested” – which, let’s be clear, means very likely the best performing display ever in the entire history of smartphones. That report didn’t pass unnoticed. And for a company like Apple, whose premium prices and market cap are based on tech leadership, it must have been galling. Haven’t its own homegrown researches and not-invented-here policy ultimately come up with anything better? Apparently not.

Meanwhile, Apple loyalists can probably expect an AMOLED iPhone soon. Perhaps Apple really ought to have moved to give them one sooner. After all, they’ve paid enough to deserve some consideration.

2 COMMENTS

  1. It seems that Display Mate performs a lot of “lab tests” when the primary criterion should be human perception. Arguing about how far beyond human perception a display might be seems pointless.
    Apple’s definition of “retina display” is that it is just beyond human perception Bettering that is just marketing drivel. I can’t see it.

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