Apple may switch to OLED panels for iPhone SE 4

Apple will use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for all iPhone models sold in 2025 and afterwards, moving completely away from liquid crystal displays (LCDs), Nikkei business daily said. The planned move will exclude Japan's Sharp Corp and Japan Display from Apple's handset business, Nikkei said.

Apple has started placing orders for OLED displays for the upcoming iPhone SE from China's BOE Technology and South Korea's LG Display, Nikkei also said, citing several components suppliers. Sharp and Japan Display had a combined 70 per cent share of iPhone displays about a decade ago but had supplied LCDs only for the iPhone SE recently and do not mass-produce OLED displays for smartphones, the paper said.

Both companies declined to comment on the report.

The development comes amid rumours that Apple is planning to launch the fourth-generation iPhone SE early next year. The iPhone SE 4 may feature an iPhone 14-like design, including a notched display. The previous iPhone SE models have stuck to the iPhone 5S-like design with an LCD panel to keep the cost low. However, the alleged changes in the iPhone SE hardware may result in a higher price.

Apple may also equip the next iPhone SE with Apple Intelligence, the company's generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that are likely to debut with iOS 18 on September 9. The upcoming iPhone 16 series will include the first devices to come with Apple Intelligence out of the box. The same integration may continue next year as the company looks to capture a major chunk of the Gen AI market, currently dominated by OpenAI and Google. Apple has also partnered with Microsoft-backed OpenAI to integrated ChatGPT into Siri as part of iOS 18, allowing users of eligible iPhone models, including last year's iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, to ask the chatbot right on their device's screen.

Written with inputs from Reuters