Apple's iPhone 7S could sport battery-saving OLED screen - CNET

Apple could adopt an OLED screen for its 2017 iPhone, the Japan-based Nikkei news site reported Wednesday.

The iPhone maker had originally planned to introduce phones with OLED displays no earlier than 2018, according to Nikkei, but is ahead of schedule and will push up the rollout to next year. Apple is reportedly close to signing a $12 billion deal with Samsung and LG to manufacture the necessary displays, according to 9to5Mac.

OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays offer several advantages over the LCD (liquid crystal display) screens currently used in iPhones. OLED displays are thinner, lighter and more flexible than LCDs. They're more power efficient, giving you more bang out of a single battery charge. Colors are more vivid, especially noticeable with blacker blacks.

An OLED screen could put iPhones on a more equal footing with smartphones made by rival Samsung, which already use that display technology. But it may not matter much in the grander scheme of things, given the "phone fatigue" that's settled over consumers -- a lack of excitement over incremental design changes for new models and a sense that the phone you already have is good enough. That's led to flatter sales even for powerhouses like Apple and Samsung.

In January, Apple reported little growth in iPhone sales last quarter and an expected downtu in the current quarter. Offering little more than a faster processor and the new 3D Touch pressure-sensitive technology, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus failed to add enough new features to convince people in countries like the US to upgrade.