Apple’s 2019 iPhones Could Include Display Technology From Samsung, Per ‘ET News’
Amid numerous price cuts and rumors that Apple’s newest iPhones aren’t selling as well as expected, the Cupertino, California-based tech giant is reportedly planning to make some changes to the displays on its 2019 iPhones by using a form of technology Samsung used in one of its latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S9.
In a report that cited South Korean publication ET News, Forbes‘ Gordon Kelly wrote on Thursday that Apple is planning a “radical overhaul” of its screen technology on next year’s iPhones, resulting in a number of benefits for the company. As noted by Kelly, ET News got its information from a Samsung insider, which explains why the website reported on an Apple rumor instead of its usual news and rumors on Samsung devices.
Per the report, Apple is working closely with Samsung on integrating the latter company’s Y-OCTA (Youm On-Cell Touch AMOLED) display technology into the 2019 iPhones. The touch sensor in these screens is specifically found on the flexible OLED layer, which makes the displays thinner, lighter, more affordable, and more responsive.
As further noted, Y-OCTA technology is nothing new for Samsung, as the South Korean company already debuted such displays on the Galaxy S9 earlier this year. While Forbes‘ Kelly wrote that Y-OCTA does indeed offer performance improvements compared to the displays found on earlier Samsung devices, he speculated that Apple isn’t planning to use the technology on its 2019 iPhones in order to improve performance, given how the devices’ OLED displays have been “top class” in recent years.
Instead, Kelly believes Apple will be introducing Y-OCTA to next year’s iPhones to reduce the cost of manufacturing the devices due to the use of fewer components, potentially allowing for more competitively priced iPhones once the next generation arrives next year.
Apple plans to use touch-integrated OLED displays in 2019 iPhone line: report https://t.co/l64I7ez2wG pic.twitter.com/GvNQ5DnQ5v
— MobileSyrup (@MobileSyrup) December 13, 2018
“Apple has already started to counter falling customer interest by competing on price. And with 2019 iPhones set to look the same and miss out on 5G (rivals are ready now), the strategy looks set to continue,” wrote Kelly.
“And now we have the first piece of the puzzle explaining how Apple will do it.”
The new report comes on the heels of an increasing number of reports suggesting Apple is struggling with unusually low sales and demand for its newly released iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR. Analysts have also been offering grim forecasts for the iPhone in 2019, with TF International Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo citing the likelihood of soft iPhone XS and XR sales as the main variable behind his reduced iPhone sales predictions for the 2019 calendar year, per 9to5Mac.
