The news comes via Taiwan’s Economic Daily News (and reported on by Apple Insider). Apple’s main supplier of OLED screens, Samsung Display, will start up production next month on two sizes of OLED screen - the 5.8 inch screened replacement of the iPhone X (provisionally called the iPhone X2) and the larger phablet-based 6.5 inch screened handset, expected to be called the iPhone X Plus.

The third model will likely be a ‘cheaper’ LED 6.1 inch screened model, but is still expected to cost as much as $799 when it launches.

Samsung had previously reduced its OLED output because of the impact of one supplier reducing its order during Q1 2018. Widely assumed to be Apple reacting to the slower sales and demand for the iPhone X, the restarting of production suggests that Apple is looking to build up a significant level of stock ahead of the launch of the new devices. This would avoid the six-week waiting time many iFans experienced when ordering the iPhone X after the 2017 launch.

It also assumes that Apple has correctly predicted the demand for its new portfolio.

As previously discussed, Apple’s iPhone sales have been steadily falling. The iPhone X was expected to herald a super cycle and boost both the unit sales and market share numbers of the iOS platform. Not only did Tim Cook’s gamble on ‘flashy’ technology to sell more iPhones fail to deliver, the higher price with higher margins simply punts the problem further down the field. Yes revenue is up, but the adoption rates are falling.

At some point Apple will pass below a critical threshold needed for a vibrant community to thrive. Pushing ahead with the two OLED models, both expected to be priced over one thousand dollars (and the third ‘cheaper’ model coming in at eight hundred dollars) means that Cook is gambling that this year will be different, that this year the shiny screen and new technology will increase the yearly sales, that this year everyone will be happy spend a four figure sum on a new phone.

Forbes

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