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DisplaySearch Weighs in on iPhone OLED Issues

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 PM - by

Apple is in fact working with Samsung on OLED displays for the Apple iPhone, according to Barry Young with DisplaySearch. It's just that the technology may be a little later coming than the imminent 3G iPhone.

Recently, Ken Delaney at Gartner speculated that Apple would be moving to OLED displays for the iPhone. Later, that was questioned by Gizmodo, citing technical and cost issues. Barry Young, a Senior Advisor and Consultant for DisplaySearch shed some light on the issue of the active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) displays in his blog.

Mr. Young noted that AMOLED can, in fact, outperform TFT LCDs if it has the right kind of polarizer. Bright sunlight is, in fact, not an issue. In addition, the AMOLED technology is already being used in products by Nokia, Sony, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Sharp and iRiver, so the technology is hardly unproven. The remaining problem is that Samsung probably probably can't meet the volume needs of Apple right now.

Since Apple is working behind the scenes with Samsung, according to Mr. Young, it's only a matter of time before Apple moves to that technology. Mr. Dulaney may have been just a bit early in his prediction, Mr. Young suggested. He wasn't so charitable with the comments that Gizmodo made.

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Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:41 pm

The OLED can be a few mm thinner than the current LCD plus backlight. This can save a lot of space over the surface of the device that cam be used for more battery and 3G electronics!

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