Rumor: Sharp Wants To Release Smartphone With Own OLED Panel

According to reports from DigiTimes, Sharp is planning to introduce smartphones under their Aquos brand with self-produced OLED panels. The company has previously announced that mass production of smartphone OLED displays has commenced last month.

It’s likely that Sharp will use their displays for use in own products such as smartphones, as well as sell their panels to other smartphone manufacturers. At the moment, the OLED market is being completely dominated by Samsung with a market share of over 90 percent, with LG Display getting the second place. A number of other small players make up the rest of the market, but the introduction of Sharp’s displays would certainly change the market landscape somewhat.

Reportedly, a company executive has spoken with Japanse newspapers about a possible series of smartphones that would be released in the fourth quarter of the year, stating that they would use their own OLED panels.

Last year, rumors started surfacing about Sharp’s plans to build television-sized OLED panels. That market is currently monopolized by LG, as they have an important set of patents for OLED tv screens with a relatively good longevity.

The Aquos smartphones are usually only launched in their home country of Japan, but the latest models will also be available in Western regions. The Sharp Aquos B10 and Aquos C10 are both mid-range devices running on a MediaTek soc and Android 7.0.