Apple working on OLED display technology in Taiwan facility

Apple seems to be quite serious about improving the display technology to be used in its future iOS devices. As part of the efforts, the company has set up a production laboratory in Longtan, Taiwan, for the development of new display technology.

Apple has hired about 50 engineers and other workers from local display maker AU Optronics and Qualcomm for the production of thinner, lighter, brighter and energy-efficient display. Additionally, it is looking to adopt organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), which are quite thinner and without backlight, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The current iPhone, iPad and Mac computers are using liquid-crystal displays (LCD). Job postings on LinkedIn also suggest Apple is looking for engineers for the development of display technology.

By doing so, Apple can reduce its dependence on suppliers such as Samsung, LG, Sharp and Japan Display. Instead, it can run the production process in-house while outsourcing the job to manufacturers like AU Optronics, which currently has a 7% share of market in Taipei, or Innolux, with 2.7%.

Apple's new production lab is situated 50km (31 miles) from Taipei, which is approximately an hour's drive from the Foxconn office. Quite isolated from the outside world, Apple's lab is located somewhere in a corner of Longtan Science Park, between a forest and a new biotechnology factory building.

Apple moved to the factory in April. The site was occupied by Qualcomm from 2008, according to records obtained from the Hsinchu Science Park management.