Samsung to supply Apple with OLED panels starting from 2017

Samsung and Apple may be at loggerheads when it comes to patent battles, but Samsung is still one of the major suppliers for Apple's products. According to a report in the Korean Herald, Samsung has reportedly signed a three-year agreement with Apple, to supply around 100 million units of 5.5-inch panels annually.Earlier Samsung has been known to provide Apple with application processors for Apple's chips as well.This deal is expected to be in the realm of $2.6 billion and clearly hints at the fact that Apple would most likely be switching to OLED panels for its smartphone displays next year.Samsung Display has declined to give any comment citing privacy policy.Samsung Display had a market share of 23% in the global shipment of displays in 2015 for displays smaller than 9-inches according to IHS. Japan Display Inc follows with 16% and LG Display Inc is at no 3 with a 14% market share.A report last month had state that Apple would most likely launch a 5.8-inch OLED phone by 2017-18. The report also mentioned that Samsung would be the supplier of the OLED panels.It is believed that Apple might be prepping a major switch to OLED screen technology for iPhones by 2018, which indicates that one should not expect an (AM)OLED iPhone before an ‘iPhone 8’ refresh in 2018. The report states that Apple is estimated to ship about 50 million AMOLED iPhones in the first year of availability.