Apple is Reducing the Number of Parts in its OLED Displays to Help Shave Costs

BY Evan Selleck

Published 25 Sep 2018

Gold iPhone XS Max Unboxing Photos

In a new report on Tuesday from Reuters, citing analyst data, Apple has decided to trim back on the parts it uses with its OLED displays in an effort to help shave costs.

The report indicates that Apple’s costs for the 256GB iPhone XS Max is around $443. That’s compared to the $395 that the iPhone X cost Apple last year. According to the data, Apple’s most expensive part remains the OLED display itself, and in an effort to reduce costs the company is minimizing the number of parts in relation to the display.

The data indicates that the OLED display in the larger iPhone costs the company $80.50 per panel (compared to the ~$77 for the OLED panel in the iPhone X). While that jump up in cost isn’t that high, Apple still aimed to reduce its own costs by removing some parts related to 3D Touch.

“In its cost analysis released on Tuesday, TechInsights found that the single priciest part in the iPhone Xs Max – the display – cost $80.50, compared with $77.27 for last year’s iPhone X, which featured a smaller 5.8-inch screen. The relatively small increase in cost despite the larger screen size was because Apple appeared to have removed some components related to its so-called 3D Touch system, which makes apps respond differently depending on how hard users press the screen.”

The new 7nm A12 Bionic processor reportedly costs Apple a bit more, thanks to the new design, and Apple is paying more for the modem within each iPhone as it shifts to Intel — away from Qualcomm (with that particular legal battle taking a bit of an interesting turn recently).

If the report is accurate, based on the analyst data, then Apple is making quite a bit off each sale of the iPhone XS Max, with the markup quite noticeable. Of course that’s nothing new, but it is interesting to see how each part might impact a new handset each year. With the news that Apple might be removing some aspects of 3D Touch, though, one can’t help but wonder if the company is indeed planning on moving away from the feature at some point in the near future.

[via Reuters]