A report from July by notoriously unreliable Smarthouse that Apple may be partnering with LG on a rumored 55-inch Apple television has been debunked by LG Display CEO Kwon Young-Soo. The exeuctive denied the alleged partnership as “Apple is still pessimistic about using OLED displays”, per an OLED-Display.net story.
Likewise, a Korea Times article from this morning cited market sources underscoring “currently very low” chances of Apple tapping OLED displays over cost concerns. The source argues:
Instead, the California-based gadget maker is understood to keep favoring the evolved LCD displays as big screen OLEDs suffer from screen burn-ins, limited life span, color balance woes and issues related to an efficiency of blue OLED. Plus, this reasoning from “a high-ranked industry executive”:
So when will Apple devices finally get OLED screens?
As OLED yield rates improve and production prices drop, Apple will eventually switch its digital gear to OLED tech. However, this won’t happen until “three or four more years” as the company has no interest in pricing itself out of the market, a top-level executive from one of Apple’s suppliers told the paper. The story jives well with what panel makers told DigiTimes, that large-sized OLED panels are “not mature yet” for big screen TVs, with yield rates low and production costs high. Apple, which scoops the best screens for its mobile gadgets, is still relying on traditional LCD technology for its iPad and iPhone. Those devices couple LCD panels with in-plane switching, a premium picture-enhancing technology allowing for wide viewing angles and colors that pop. Apple is understood to be quality-testing very high-resolution 2048-by-1536 LCD displays from LG and Samsung for a third-generation iPad.
