In Late 2017 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Japan Display is set to Acquire JOLED to Jump into Apple's OLED Supply Chain ahead of a New Sea of Competitors." Everything looked promising and then a report in June surfaced claiming the deal would have to be delayed until 2018 at the earliest.

A new report by Reuters today notes Japan Display saying that it is considering to tap new investors for capital to catch up in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens as its late entry into the technology is costing the display maker orders from its largest client, Apple Inc.

Japan Display had missed the swift change in consumption trends, with handset makers shifting to the thinner and flexible OLED displays and away from LCDs for high-end models.

It plans to start mass-producing OLED panels for smartphones starting in 2019, while Apple, whose orders account for more than half of the firm's current sales, is widely expected to begin adopting OLED for its iPhones later this year.

"We now see no future for the smartphone panel business without OLED," CEO Nobuhiro Higashiiriki said at a quarterly results briefing. "We have strategically changed our direction."

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Image: Reuters