Industry insiders have been tipping for long that Apple may shift entirely to OLED displays for its products. Speculations have been rife that Apple is looking to bring LG Display on board so that it does not have to depend on Samsung for its entire supply of Oled screens. It is rumored that Apple has agreed to pay an advance of $2.7 billion to LG to secure an entire production line of OLED panels for its iPhones from 2019.

A 9to5Mac report cites reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from the KGI Securities has supported the above-mentioned rumors and has stated that LG will soon join the Apple fold to supply the Cupertino-based firm with OLED screens.

Kuo in his report has pointed out several factors that indicate that Apple will join hands with LG to get supplies of OLED screens for its future products in 2018.

Apple and LG to join hands for OLED panel supply business?

According to Kuo, the OLED panel has been the only component, which gave Apple too much trouble in the development of its next generation iPhones. Given the fact that Samsung has an upper hand in terms of expertise as well as power in the development of this particular screen technology, the South Korean OEM has leverage over Apple when it comes to bargaining. Kuo believes that Apple will be employing LG manufactured OLED panels in its iPhones from 2018 itself. Moreover, Kuo states LG compared to Samsung can provide better industry collaboration which will result in the increase in the shipment yield rate.

According to Kuo, Samsung is currently the only OLED panel supplier for Apple for both the front- and back-end manufacturing of the iPhone. In case LG joins the bandwagon, then it may or may not follow a similar model. Given the fact that the strength of LG Display is the manufacturing of the front-end process, Apple might opt for a specialized back- end process provider such as the GIS.

Kuo further states that LG knowing its weaknesses may as well try to team up with GIS and MegaSite to provide Apple enhanced lamination experience and with Foxconn to sharpen its manufacturing services.

Has Apple secured OLED panels from LG?

Rumors are rife that Apple has already booked in at least 45,000 units of mother glass from LG Displays to develop 6.5th-generation OLED panels each month.

If the numbers of mother glass units stated in the rumor hold water, then that would be a great number of iPhone displays. The $2.7 billion investment that Apple has made into LG was made in exchange of a win-win situation for the Cupertino based company. While LG will be able to make up for the some of the risks that come with such a huge capital outlay, Apple will be able to diversify in terms of its OLED panel business.