Samsung Display, viewing that Apple is likely to adopt OLED panels for new iPhone to be launched in 2017 and other smartphone vendors will follow suit, will invest KRW8.0 trillion (US$6.82 billion) in 2016 to expand its OLED panel production capacity by 50%, according to Japan-based Nikkei Asian Review.
The added OLED panel production capacity will be sufficient for production of 200 million units of smartphones, compared to Samsung's current capacity of 300 million OLED panels for smartphones, said the paper.
Given Samsung shipped only 320 million smartphones in 2015, the expansion project may affect Samsung's future profitability if oversupply of panels occurs, the paper added.
Apple has informed its suppliers that all iPhone devices will switch to OLED displays in 2018, with a portion of products to use OLED panels in advance, the paper noted.
Meanwhile, LG Display also plans to invest over KWR10 trillion in the next few years to ramp up production of its OLED panels for TVs and smartphones, while JDI will also spend JPY50billion (US$479 million) in 2017 to set up new OLED production lines, the paper indicated.
