Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has offered his latest report on Apple and its good news for MacBook fans.
According to Kuo, Apple could finally release a MacBook with an OLED display as early as late 2024.
Kuo has a solid track record predicting Apple’s next moves. If he is correct about Apple’s OLED plans, it could help the company reinvent the popular MacBook yet again.
LG has unveiled 14 new OLED TVs at CES 2020, using artificial intelligence to push the envelope in terms of picture quality and features.
“At the heart of the latest 8K and 4K LG OLED and 8K LG NanoCell TVs are a number of advanced core technologies, most notably the new α (Alpha) 9 Gen 3 AI Processor. This advanced processor leverages upgraded processing power and artificial intelligence deep learning algorithms to improve on LG’s renowned picture quality and enable a host of specialized features for various types of content including movies, games and sports, taking the user experience to new heights.”
As an added bonus, LG will support the native Apple TV app. Despite Apple’s claim “the Apple TV app is everywhere,” Samsung was the only major manufacturer with native, on-TV support. Other devices and TVs required using AirPlay to broadcast content to the TV.
“LG’s award-winning webOS smart TV platform will bring 2020 LG OLED and LG NanoCell TVs a plethora of programming from the constantly-growing number of top global content providers through apps and services such as Disney+, Netflix and CBS All Access. New for 2020, the Apple TV app allows customers to subscribe and watch Apple TV+ and Apple TV channels as well as access their iTunes video library and buy or rent more than 100,000 films and TV shows. Customers with 2018 and 2019 LG TV models will also be able to enjoy the Apple TV app this year.”
LG’s adoption of Apple TV, as well as the other streaming apps, is welcome news as more and more consumers are looking to cut the cord.
Apple and Sharp are in talks to purchase Japan Display’s “main Hakusan factory in Ishikawa Prefecture,” according to Nikkei.
As Apple has increasingly switched iPhones to OLED screens, instead of LCD panels, Japan Display (JDI) has struggled due to poor sales. Apple recently led a round of backers in giving JDI a $368 million relief package in an effort to prop up the company.
According to Nikkei, in mid-December, Apple was likely in talks to purchase the equipment from the factory, but that appears to have shifted to purchasing the entire facility and grounds.
It’s unclear what role Sharp will play, but the two companies “are still considering how to share stakes in the facility.” Since Apple paid for nearly half the cost of building the factory before it came online in 2016, this deal probably represents the best chance for Apple to recoup its investment.
According to CNBC, analysts at J.P. Morgan believe Apple could be switching up its iPhone release schedule, releasing new models twice a year instead of once.
Since 2011, Apple has traditionally released iPhones either in September or October. As the market has become increasingly more competitive, however, an entire year between major releases has allowed competitors to leapfrog the iPhone’s features.
In a note to investors, J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee cites supply chain checks as the basis for their prediction.
“Based on our supply chain checks, we are expecting a strategic change in the launch cadence with the release of two new iPhone models in 1H21 followed by another two in 2H21, which will serve to smooth seasonality around the launch.”
In the short-term, the analysts also believe there will be a total of four iPhones released in 2020, instead of the normal three. Even more significant, they believe that all four of the devices next year will have both OLED screens and 5G support, according to Chatterjee’s note.
“The 2H20 lineup will include all OLED phones, with screen sizes of 5.4″ (one model), 6.1″ (two), and 6.7″ (one), broadening the screen size range from 5.8″ to 6.5″ in 2019. We expect the two higher end models (one 6.1″, one 6.7″) to include mmWave support, triple camera and World facing 3D sensing, while the lower-end models (one 6.1″, one 5.4″) will include support for only sub-6 GHz and dual camera (no World-facing 3D sensing).”
J.P. Morgan has raised its 12-month price target for Apple to $296 from $290.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) ultra HD displays were featured at nearly every major tech manufacturer’s booth. The technology is predicted to begin taking off this year and should provide a much-need boost to the TV industry following the failure of 3D TV.
TV manufacturer’s aren’t putting all of their eggs in the ultra HD basket, though. Some of the most well-known TV makers are also developing flexible displays that they say will enhance TV viewing for consumers. Samsung in particular showed off a display that could lie flat but be curved at the touch of a remote button.
Market research firm NPD DisplaySearch this week released a new report predicting that 800,000 curved TVs will ship this year. The market for curved TVs is expected to reach at least 6 million units shipped by 2017.
Despite the claims made by TV manufacturers, even analysts are skeptical that the technology truly brings innovation to the industry. Other features such as ultra HD and OLED displays are expected to become more prominent TV-selling features in the coming years.
Flexible displays have also recently been used in smartphones. Both LG and Samsung have released curved smartphones, both marketing the devices based on this feature but both unable to truly explain why a curved screen is needed or should be desired.
“The novelty of curved screens is expected to wear off with time, leading to shipments peaking and then trailing off,” said Paul Gray, director of European TV at DisplaySearch. “Even so, curved screens will have completed the important task of differentiating new high-end models, thereby helping to boost overall value in the global television market.”
Though DisplaySearch predicts that OLED displays will eventually begin to earn market share in the TV industry, the firm does not see this happening in the near-term. Manufacturing issues are holding back the technology and only 100,000 OLED TVs are expected to ship this year. That number will pickup significantly in the coming years, with DisplaySearch estimating one million OLED TV will ship in 2016.
Image via LG
That seems like a silly headline until you realize that LG’s 55-inch OLED TVs sell for over $10,000. That means those 100 TV sets brought in over $1 million for LG.
The Korean electronics manufacturer has begun selling pre-orders for its OLED TVs, which it debuted at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. At the time, the TVs were reported to cost $12,000 and rumored to begin shipping in March 2013.
Now, Reuters is reporting that over 100 pre-orders have already been logged.
While LG’s OLED TV sets are expensive, early adopters of technology are used to paying a premium for such showpieces. The cost of the TVs comes from new manufacturing processes, and the difficulty of packing in the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology into an ultra-thin screen where LCD (liquid-crystal display) screens were once found. The new OLED TV screens are, according to LG, only 4mm thick.
LG’s Korean rival Samsung was rumored last year to be preparing to launch its own lineup of OLED TVs before the end of 2012, but that prediction didn’t pan out. Samsung did, however, show off a curved OLED TV set at CES 2013, leading to speculation that the company is more interested in implementing the display technology into its Android smartphones.
(via BGR)
A hallmark of CES is that companies always announce bigger TVs to make up for the fact that there hasn’t been any real innovation since the introduction of Smart TVs a few years ago. That trend continues this year as LG has just revealed details of its latest wallet-destroying television.
LG announced today that its 55-inch OLED TV will begin shipping to the U.S. in March of this year. The television is razor thin at only 0.16 inches, and is incredibly light at 22 pounds. The OLED display also provides the best image quality currently available on televisions.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to make this announcement at the start of the new year because we believe that OLED will usher in a whole new era of home entertainment,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG’s Home Entertainment Company. “Not since color TV was first introduced 60 years ago has there been a more transformational moment. When high definition TV was first introduced 15 years ago, the public’s reaction was ‘wow!’ but when customers see our razor-thin OLED TV for the first time, they’re left speechless. That’s a clear indicator as any that OLED TV is much more than just an incremental improvement to current television technology.”
It’s hard to say how popular OLED TVs will be in the coming year especially with its high price of entry. Engadget reports that the 55-inch model will retail for $12,000 while there’s no price set for the 65-inch model just yet. It’s also unlikely to do well in its first year because most consumers are presumably happy with their LED televisions.
For those who can afford the television, have fun being the envy of your neighbors. While you’re at it, you might as well pick up Lenovo’s 27-inch tablet just to show off.
Apple may be preparing to include Samsung’s flexible OLED displays in future products – perhaps even the iPhone – according to a recent report. Samsung unveiled the displays at CES 2012 to general acclaim.
Kwon Oh-hyun, Vice Chairman of Samsung (which is based in Seoul) told Korea Times yesterday that Samsung was receiving “huge” orders for OLED displays from a variety of electronics companies.
Though Kwon does not say as much, the Korea Times suspects that one of the companies responsible for the huge orders may be Apple, which makes some sense, given that Apple is one of Samsung’s largest electronic components customers. They speculate that the flexible OLED displays could go in an “iPhone Yoga,” though they rightly point out that such technology isn’t likely to be present in the new iPhone.
According to Kwon, the flexible OLED displays will be going into mass production during the third and fourth quarters of this year in response to “significant” demand from Samsung’s clients.
At first glance, this seems like the kind of rumor that should probably be dismissed, and it may well be that Apple isn’t interested at all in Samsung’s OLED displays. On the other hand, though, there’s that patent application we told you about earlier this month. Apple has apparently been looking into haptic feedback display technology, and it just so happens that the technology that Apple has applied to patent consists of a series of “shape change elements” that would raise and lower to simulate the texture of whatever was on the device’s screen. Such technology would require a display very like the flexible OLED displays for which Samsung is apparently receiving “huge” orders.
Of course, it may well be that Apple will never do anything with the haptic feedback system, or with Samsung’s flexible displays. The fact that Samsung is receiving orders for a technology that is required by another technology Apple is trying to patent could very easily be a be a coincidence, and indeed it probably is. Nevertheless, the possibility that it isn’t a coincidence has some tantalizing implications.
[Image Credit: I Am Industrial Design]
Samsung announced today that it’ll be launching TV’s that incorporating OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology, sometime after the 2nd quarter of this year. Samsung’s latest Galaxy Tab 7.7 features the largest OLED-based screen available to consumers so far, with its 7.7 inch Super AMOLED Plus panel.
The 55″ TV will go for about $9,000, and Samsung doesn’t expect the technology to go mainstream for another 2-3 years. LG is also developing their own OLED television, with a similar expected retail price.
Samsung’s Super OLED TV was a Best of Innovations Award Honoree at the 2012 CES, and Hyunsuk Kim, executive vice president, Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, states, “Samsung has had a long and successful history of creating innovative OLED products, including mobile phones, digital cameras and tablet PCs. Today, we are proud to extend our OLED leadership to the TV category with this spectacular 55-inch Super OLED – By incorporating true-to-life picture quality with ultimate speed and vividness, Smart Interaction, Smart Content and ultimate thinness, Samsung is delivering the ultimate TV today.”
In related news, Panasonic Japan has recently announced that it’s developing a new “Super Hi-Vision” (as it’s called in that country) plasma screen that supports 8K resolution at 120 frames per second. No word on how much it will cost.
Samsung has announced a new plan to return the company’s flat-panel display business to profitability. The company’s board of directors has voted to spin off Samsung’s LCD business into a separate firm called Samsung Display Co. The new firm will be entirely owned by Samsung Electronics, but will start off with 750 billion South Korean won (roughly $667 billion U.S.) in capital.
The spin-off is effective April 1st, 2012. Samsung is one of many television manufacturers currently making the switch to OLED and AMOLED technology. The company showed off a 55-inch OLED HDTV at CES 2012 last month. The TV generated quite a bit of buzz and garnered several awards. Creating a separate firm for Samsung’s LCD business allows the company to focus its primary attention on OLED technology, while allowing Samsung Display Co. to survive more or less on its own. The proposal approved by Samsung’s board also mentions the possibility that Samsung Display Co. could merge at some point with either Samsung Mobile Display or S-LCD Corporation.
There has been no shortage of amazing things on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The unofficial themes of the show this year have been TVs and thinner gadgets. Some of the biggest buzz, though, has come from Samsung’s new 55-inch Super OLED. This remarkable HDTV is made with OLED pixels, each of which emits its own light and consists of RGB subpixels, promising a sharper image than has been possible with previous HDTVs.
In addition to the positive buzz it has generated, the new TV has garnered a slew of awards. According to a Samsung press release the accolades include Popular Science’s Best of CES 2012: Products of the Future award, G4 TV’s Best of the Best Products, Stuff Magazine’s CES Hot Stuff Award, and CES’s own Best of CES Innovations 2012 in the Video Displays category.
Samsung showed off the TV at their press conference and made highlights available on YouTube. Check out the video embedded below and let us know what you think in the comments.
[Source: Samsung Press Release]