Back in 2014-2015, Japan Display (JDI) was regarded as Apple’s largest provider of smartphones. At the time, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were bringing larger LCD screens to iPhone users. The first 3.5-inch display found on the first iPhone models has risen to 4-inch by iPhone 5 and 4.7-inch on iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 Plus carries a 5.5-inch screen size and those sizes remain to change until the 2017 iPhone X has a 5.8-inch OLED screen.
Japan Display will sell the factory to Foxconn’s Sharp
The iPhone X was the first of Japan’s most important Display features for the iPhone since the supplier was slow to accept OLED. JDI borrows $ 1.5 billion from Apple is building a new LCD plant. With smartphone manufacturers — including Apple — turning away from the LCD, the new JDI factory was operating at only 50% power. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, on Friday Japan Display announced that it would be selling a smartphone display and Sharp land for 41.2 thousand yen (equivalent to $ 386 million). The Hakusan LCD factory and consumer equipment, believed to be Apple, will bring Japan Display $ 668 million while simultaneously cutting off excess volume that has a negative impact on its earnings. This particular firm has been idle since 2019.
The facility was supposed to have been sold by the end of last March but the global epidemic caused plans to change. During the construction of the factory, Apple incurred 170 billion yen ($ 1.61 billion USD) of the facility. Production started in late 2016 with up to seven million panels produced each month. Over time, the number of panels produced by the factory decreased monthly. Japan Display will use the proceeds from the sale of the plant to pay Apple in advance for the facility.
Sharp, owned by iPhone assembler Foxconn, will lease the necessary equipment to Apple that will allow it to produce LCD displays of older iPhone models. Sharp also hopes to use the facility to develop and produce next-generation display including microLED screens that use millions of small slides that produce a sharp signal (no pun intended). Sharp plans to release his LCD panel business in October.
Japan Display has lost money in 11 consecutive locations and the company is producing the beloved AMOLED displays Apple Watch.
