OLED Making Machine Shortage Could Impact 2017’s iPhone

One of the popular and persistent rumors for 2017’s iPhone is that it is expected to come with an OLED display. However at the same time, there are apparently not enough OLEDs for Apple to give all their iPhones an OLED screen, which is why there are also rumors to suggest that only one iPhone model could have the feature.

If you’re looking for evidence to back those claims up, a report from Bloomberg seems to provide us a pretty good clue and reasoning, and that is a shortage in OLED-making machines. According to Bloomberg, the majority of OLED-making machines are supplied by Canon Tokki (a unit of Canon), and as it stands the company has a backlog of orders, with each machine said to cost around $85 million and has a wait time of 2 years.

What this means is that even with existing machines in place, Apple isn’t the only company in the world to request for OLED, which means that the supply that they might be able to get their hands on could be limited. This is why the supply that Apple does get could be limited to just one model of the iPhone in 2017.

According to Canon Tokki’s Chief Executive Officer Teruhisa Tsugami, “We are doing all we can to increase output and make that wait shorter.” In any case we guess we’ll have to wait and see what 2017 holds for us, but for now if you were hoping for an OLED iPhone lineup next year, you might be disappointed.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone