Report: Apple's OLED 3D Touch panel vendors to spend $315 million for capacity expansion

General Interface Solution and TPK Holding have been named as members of the Apple iPhone 8 supply chain in a report published today. Both companies are allegedly producing OLED 3D Touch panels for the special tenth anniversary Apple iPhone 8 model. Between the two companies, they are believed to be dropping $315 million into the project with the money being spent to expand production capacity. Both already supply touch panels for Apple with GIS delivering touch screens for the iPad Pro, and TPK providing the same component for the iPhone.

The Apple iPhone 8 (or iPhone X according to some reports) will supposedly be the first Apple smartphone to use an OLED panel. That calls for a thin-film solution requiring different manufacturing technology. The 4.7-inch Apple iPhone 7s and 5.5-inch Apple iPhone 7s Plus are both rumored to stick with LCD panels. Most analysts, including KGI Securities' Ming -Chi Kuo, say that Apple won't go exclusively with OLED for the iPhone until 2018.

Making the switch is going to cost Apple some money. The LCD 3D Touch panels are believed to be sourced by Apple at a cost of $9 each. The thin-film panels used for the OLED displays are priced 67% higher at $15 each.

source: Digitimes