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Apple can't make enough iPhone OLED screens

by on28 June 2017


OLED process not yielding enough for new phone

The fruity tax-dodging cargo cult Apple’s new iPhone 8 will be in short supply because it can’t get enough OLED panels.

The Tame Apple Press is doing its best to play down the rumours, but we would normally suspect that Apple will be happy about any short supply close to the release date because it will make the phone look more popular than it actually is – much like Nintendo's business model. 

However according to DigitimesiPhone shipments are being held back by supply of OLED panels and yield rates at assembly, which could be a little more serious.

Part of the issue is that Samsung the exclusive manufacturer of the panels for the OLED ‘iPhone 8’ (tentative naming) but it seems like output of the 5.8-inch panel is heavily constrained.

Only 3-4 million iPhone devices will be ready to ship by September, which is the typical launch window for new iPhones. Last year, Apple announced the iPhone 7 on September 7, 2016. Normally Apple is talking about the billions it sells in the first five minutes, however with this many in circulation it is not going to be able to do that.

It also might be a longer term problem because it will be difficult for Apple to ship the 50-60 million OLED-based new iPhones in 2017 which it plans.

This report only applies to the OLED iPhone, it seems like production of the two ‘iPhone 7s’ devices with LCD displays is generally on track. But the those two phones are expected to be modest updates over the existing iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus whereas the OLED iPhone 8 is the all-new model.

Apple will still host a media event in September to announce the next-generation iPhone lineup, but it is starting to look like the iPhone 8 may not go on sale until late October.  It could issue them without OLED screens, after all it is not as if Iphone users are bright enough to spot the difference.

Last modified on 28 June 2017
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