Apple has asked Samsung to supply folding OLED panels, and Samsung will exclusively supply one year's amount. Some digital bloggers pointed out that Apple has asked Samsung to supply foldable OLED panels, and that Samsung will exclusively supply the amount for one year. It can be seen that Apple values Samsung, which undoubtedly shows Samsung's leading edge in folding mobile phone technology.
At present, two mobile phone companies in the world have launched commercial folding mobile phones, namely Samsung and Huawei. Samsung has launched three generations of foldable mobile phones, and rapidly iterated the technology of foldable phones in two years. It can do so because it has the core technical advantages of foldable phones. The core technology of folding mobile phones is undoubtedly the folding OLED panel. Samsung is the world's largest manufacturer of small and medium-sized OLED panels. It has been producing OLED panels for 13 years. It is also the first company to demonstrate folding mobile phone technology.
Although Huawei has also released two generations of folding phones, the upgrade of its folding OLED panel technology for the two generations of folding phones is not obvious. The main reason is that its folding OLED panel technology comes from BOE, which started production of OLED panels in 2017. BOE originally planned to supply OLED panels to Apple this year, but it failed in the end. Samsung has supplied OLED panels to Apple for three consecutive years. This also shows that Samsung's OLED panel technology is ahead of BOE.
Both Samsung and Huawei launched commercial folding mobile phones for the first time last year. However, after two years of promotion, the sales volume of folding mobile phones was only a few million units. This is undoubtedly negligible compared with the 1.4 billion global smartphone sales. The trend still has a long way to go. Apple has actually developed foldable phones for several years. As a leader in the global mobile phone industry, Apple has developed foldable phones as early as 2016, but unlike other mobile phone companies, it often chooses to intervene when the technology is mature to a certain extent. Obviously now Apple believes that the time to launch a foldable phone has arrived.
Apple's choice of Samsung to exclusively supply folding OLED panels at this time undoubtedly proves that it highly recognizes Samsung's leading advantages in folding mobile phone technology. This also shows that it believes that Samsung's folding OLED panel technology is quite mature and meets the conditions for mass production. The rumored news indicates that the folding phone that Apple will launch may be similar to the up and down folding method of the Galaxy Z flip launched by Samsung, but its folding technology is different from this phone. It is innovative in the folding design of the folding OLED panel. Designed and applied for a patent, which solves the technical problem of folding mobile phone crease.
Apple has an important influence on the technology industry. In fact, the smartphone industry was first promoted by Microsoft and Nokia, but it was not until 2007 that Apple launched the iPhone to promote the rapid development and growth of smartphones and the end of feature phones; in 2010, Apple launched the iPad and quickly expanded the tablet The computer industry has put an end to netbooks; it can be expected that if Apple launches foldable phones, foldable phones will soon become a trend.
Samsung took the lead in the development of foldable mobile phone technology. Unfortunately, it has the advantages of technological innovation and failed to develop and expand foldable phones. With Apple’s intervention, the spring of foldable phones may arrive, and Samsung will supply folding OLED panels from it. Obtaining huge profits, this may be a surprise for Samsung. Apple recently applied for a patent for a foldable smartphone with an "auto-repair" function. The smartphone will include a "self-repair" display, allowing the phone to repair dents or scratches on the screen. The patent application was filed by Apple in January this year and discovered by Patently Apple.
As Apple wrote in the patent application, the proposed concept of the display screen will allow the device to repair itself without manual intervention by the user. In theory, the self-healing function of this foldable product can be activated automatically. For example, when the device is charging or running on a predetermined schedule, it will use heat, light or current to repair the protective layer above the screen. The patent application also states that the screen of the hypothetical device may include a layer of elastic body that will lose and restore its shape, thereby protecting the sensitive internal workings of the device. In theory, the materials used for this concept will make the entire foldable display more durable.
Several technology companies, including Samsung and Motorola, are already producing foldable phones of different styles, but the self-healing function proposed by Apple will bring unique changes to these devices. Samsung's first use of this foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, suffered from the durability of the screen display. The basic self-healing technology was once applied to a smartphone, namely the LG G Flex in 2013. It has a self-healing back cover that can repair smaller scratches. However, the effect of this technique is not very good: in our testing process, it cannot recover more serious scratches.
There is no sign that Apple will launch a foldable phone with self-repairing function as soon as possible. But foldable phones seem to be in Apple's future plans. Apple's other patents also show prototypes of the foldable iPhone.
