Apple tries to calculate the costs of iPhone production in the U.S. with the help of its suppliers. Difficulty in sourcing OLED screens could change plans
Everything should be taken with “pliers” when it comes to Apple. The Cupertino-based company has nonchalantly solved many hiccups and problems throughout its life and it will certainly not be the production of OLED screens to disrupt its plans. And there’s still time before the iPhone 8 is released…
The rumor of an iPhone 8 with an OLED screen on board – to be released next year – is almost lost in the mists of time. If the Apple Watch and the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar are already equipped with OLED technology, the iPhone is “stuck” with traditional LCD (liquid crystal display) screens. The Cupertino-based company needs to put a spin on its smartphone if it wants to continue riding the crest of the wave. A recent report from Bloomberg claims, however, that insufficient production of OLED screens could disrupt Apple’s plans. Let’s find out why…
OLED vs LCD
The four major OLED display suppliers – according to Bloomberg – do not have enough production capacity to meet the demand for displays with Organic Light Emitting Diode technology for either next year (2017) or the year after (2018). The difficulty facing the “fantastic” 4, specifically – Samsung Display, LG Display, Sharp and Japan Display – is that the manufacturing process for OLED screens is much more complex than that of LCD panels. Apple, at this point, expects Samsung to be the sole supplier in 2017.
What’s the future for the iPhone 8?
What effect could this limited production of OLED screens have on Apple’s plans? Bloomberg fa notare che questo problema potrebbe costringere l’azienda di Cupertino a utilizzare schermi OLED su un solo modello di iPhone 8. I soliti bene informati sostengono, inoltre, che Apple prevede di lanciare almeno un nuovo iPhone con schermo OLED nel 2017 per celebrare il 10° anniversario dal debutto del suo fortunato smartphone. Questa, però, non è l’unica novità di rilievo dei nuovi iPhone 8: clicca sulla foto che segue per accedere alla gallery con tutte le novità Apple previste sul prossimo melafonino.
Fonte foto: BeHance
Rendering dell’iPhone 8 senza tasto Home. Cliccando sulla foto potrai visualizzare tutte le novità iPhone 8 rivelate sinora
Produzione negli States?
Un altro cambiamento, tutt’altro che secondario, potrebbe riguardare la fase di produzione dell’iPhone del decennio. According to Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review newspaper, Apple has reportedly asked the two largest iPhone component manufacturers (Foxxcon and Pegatron) for a feasibility study to move production and assembly of the applephone from China to the United States. The request would date back to June 2016, but would become more pressing following Donald Trump’s election victory. According to sources heard by Japanese journalists, the operation would be anything but simple: bringing factories from one side to the other of the Pacific Ocean would double the production costs of the iPhone 8, with unknown effects on the final price. For the sake of argument, it has been calculated that the production costs of the 32-gigabyte iPhone 7 are $225, while the list price is $649.