Sharp Corp, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) Japanese subsidiary, would start supplying OLED displays for smartphones to Hon Hai this summer at the earliest, Sharp president and chief executive officer Tai Jeng-wu (戴正吳) said yesterday.
“Sharp will have mass production capability for OLED displays used in smartphones as soon as this quarter, but the shipping schedule is estimated to be between June and September to meet product launch schedules,” Tai told reporters after a news conference in Taipei.
Tai did not disclose the identity of the clients for whom Sharp would be supplying the displays.
The company is reportedly eyeing a share in the supply chain of Apple Inc’s OLED-screen iPhone X, of which Hon Hai is the sole assembler.
Samsung Electronics Co dominates OLED display technology in the smartphone industry and is the sole supplier for the iPhone X.
Although Samsung is ahead of its rivals, Sharp has been stepping up its efforts to catch up with the South Korean company in OLED display development, Tai said.
Sharp’s board in October last year approved an investment in technology related to small OLED screens and the company last month produced sample OLED displays for handsets, he said.
Sharp would also introduce a new smartphone featuring an OLED screen under its own brand in June or July, Tai said.
Sharp would be the first Japanese company to have the capability to produce OLED displays for smartphones, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier this month.
Japan Display Inc, Sharp’s Japanese peer, is expected to begin mass production of small OLED displays by next year at the earliest, it said.
In related news, Sharp Taiwan yesterday announced a collaboration with Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) Yongling Organic Farm (永齡農場) to sell Sharp refrigerators with the farm’s mix-and-match vegetables in Taiwan in a bid to expand the two companies’ presence in the domestic market.
The farm is to supply up to 26 weeks of vegetable sets free of charge to people who purchase Sharp refrigerators on the farm’s Web site, Sharp’s Taiwan branch said.
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