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Report: Samsung agrees to supply iPhone OLED screens from 2017

There’s more evidence that Apple will start using OLED displays in its iPhone range from next year.

It’s the iPhone rumour that simply won’t go away. Apple is finally ditching LCD screen tech in favour of OLED, and it will get further into bed with bitter rival Samsung to do so from next year.

Now a fresh report in The Korea Herald (via MacRumours) has added further weight to the suggestion. It claims that Apple has signed a $2.59 billion deal with Samsung to supply 100 million 5.5-inch OLED panels per year, starting from 2017.

This supports previous rumours that Apple was bringing forward its OLED switch schedule from 2018 to 2017.

It also seems to tally with suggestions that Apple is planning a radical redesign of the iPhone in 2017, stepping out of the existing biennial cycle that has been in place since the iPhone 3G.

Related: iPhone 7 release date

OLED is widely accepted to be a superior screen technology to LCD, with Samsung in particular having perfected the implementation in recent years. The screen standard’s early tendency towards garish, oversaturated colours has been reined in, leaving only its brilliant contrast and deep blacks in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7.

Apple has actually already released a device that utilises an OLED display in the Apple Watch. WatchOS’s dark theme works well with OLED’s ability to only light up specific pixels, helping to conserve power.

Next, take a look at our iPhone 6S Plus video review:

Are you looking forward to an OLED-equipped iPhone? Let us know in the comments below.

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