The iPhone 8 is reportedly getting an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display.
For months, Apple has been rumoured to be exploring the technology, and now a key supplier has confirmed the speculation is true.
Sharp’s president Tai Jeng-wu told students in Tappei the iPhone is switching from LCD to OLED panels, Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Nikkei reported that Tai said: “We don’t know whether Apple’s OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if Apple doesn’t walk down this path and transform itself, there will be no innovation. It is a crisis but it is also an opportunity.”
Tai is an executive at Sharp’s parent company Foxconn Technology Group, a key iPhone part supplier and assembler.
One of the major draws of OLED technology is its ability to flex, as it does in the Samsung S7 Edge and Note 7.
Nikkei Asian Review reported in August that at least one of the next generation iPhones would come with a Samsung-like curved OLED.
A source told Nikkei: “There will be a 4.7-inch model, another that will be 5.5-inches and a premium handset that will be either 5.5-inches or larger equipped with a screen bent on the two sides.”
The source added that the first two would still get flat screens.
In addition to being bendy, OLEDs displays are sharper, more colourful and much tougher than LCDs.