Reports suggest that the iPhone 8 could start at around $1,100/£845/AU$1,380, which is expensive even by iPhone standards, and it seems that Samsung could be partly to blame for that.
Specifically, a new report from analysts at KGI Securities claims that the OLED panels Samsung is providing for the phone will cost at least twice as much as the LCD panels Apple was previously using, up from around $45-$55 to $120-$130 for each panel.
For that reason, the report notes that Apple is likely to be keen to find a second OLED supplier as soon as possible, both to ensure it can produce enough iPhone 8 units and to push costs down.
Fingerprint fail
But Samsung’s OLED display isn’t just expensive, it might also be the reason the long-rumored under-screen fingerprint scanner won’t be present, as apparently OLED can’t reliably take fingerprint scans.
That would make a certain amount of sense, given that Samsung was also rumored to be working on an under-screen scanner for the OLED Samsung Galaxy S8, yet failed to achieve satisfactory results in time.
According to this new report, Apple will instead rely purely on facial recognition for biometric security, since the physical home button has seemingly been ditched to leave an all-screen front, but previous rumors have suggested that Apple might move the scanner to the back or the power button instead.
We’ll know for sure what solution Apple lands on soon, as the iPhone 8 is being announced on September 12.
Via 9to5Mac
