Full-screen displays to make up 17% of smartphone OLED panels in 2017

[THE INVESTOR]  Full-screen displays that are widely rumored being adopted by Samsung Electronics and Apple will make up 17 percent of organic light-emitting diode panels for smartphones in 2017, a local research firm said on Oct. 13.

UBI Research added that the mobile adoption of more futuristic displays, including rollable and foldable screens, could surge to almost 60 percent by 2020.

According to industry sources, Samsung and Apple, the world’s top two smartphone makers, are currently working on bezel-less displays that would allow a more immersive viewing of photos and videos. 

Apple’s new fingerprint patent that hints at a future iPhone with no home button.

With the adoption of the OLED-based displays, a home button on the bottom bezel is also expected to disappear as it is built into the screen as a fingerprint sensor, sources said.

Currently, Samsung Display, the display-making unit of Samsung Electronics, dominates almost 97 percent of the smartphone OLED market.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)