Samsung and Interflex are both ramping up production of flexible printed circuit boards to be use in Apple’s ‘iPhone 8’ later this year, The Korea Hearld reports. The FPCB components are used to connect the dedicated chips for components like the display and camera.
Previous reports claimed the new OLED ‘iPhone 8’ will be made with a flexible display, but that the phone itself won’t be bendable or foldable because the other internal components can’t flex. While FPCBs don’t fully solve that problem, their inclusion could make the entire device less rigid than previous models.
The new report claims Samsung, Interflex and BH will each be responsible for certain components in the new device, with Samsung and Interflex both spending 100 billion won ($88 million) each to expand their production abilities in anticipation of future orders.
While Apple is only said to be producing around 60 million OLED units this year—roughly 40 percent of total iPhones—the report claims Apple “aims to use OLED for all its new iPhones by 2019.”
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