Apple took its time switching to OLED screens for its mainline iPhones, but the iPhone SE has stayed with the cheaper LCD technology—until now.
A new report from Asia confirms that the next iPhone SE, likely coming next year, will feature an OLED display. This shift means Apple will no longer use LCD panels in any of its smartphones, impacting suppliers like Japan Display and Sharp, who only make LCDs and not OLEDs for phones (JDI does supply small OLEDs for the Apple Watch).
Apple has reportedly started ordering OLED displays for the next SE from China’s BOE and Korea’s LG. Currently, Samsung supplies about half of the OLED panels for iPhones, LG provides around 30%, and BOE covers the remaining 20%.
UK-based market researcher Omdia predicts that OLED panels will surpass LCDs in smartphone shipments this year. It’s surprising it took Apple this long to make the switch.
