China Targets Apple With Push Into Advanced Smartphone Screens

As it stated in BOE Technology Group Co. plants already make display screens for Apple's iPads and MacBook computers, and the company is also the world's top producer of large liquid crystal screens. Now it is seeking to supply Apple with advanced organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, smartphone screens, according to people familiar with the plans. It is the only Chinese display company that supplies Apple, which is notoriously finicky in its demands for top-quality components. But LCD screens are easier to mass-produce than flexible OLED displays, which involve applying tiny organic materials. AdvertisementFor Apple, landing BOE as an OLED display supplier provides it with an alternative to Samsung, which Apple competes with in smartphones but relies on for the OLED screens.

Despite Huge Spending, Apple Can't Crack Indian Smartphone Market

The third-largest phone market in the world, however, remains stubbornly resistant to Apple's charm — and its hardware offensive. Global smartphone sales fell six percent in China in Q1 2018 and five percent in America compared with the same period in 2017. According to IDC, the Indian smartphone market shipped 30 million units in total in Q1 2018. Even if we assume that Apple could take 20 percent of the Indian market, that's still just 6 million phones per quarter. In other words, it won't be long before India's smartphone market looks more like China's — and is therefore worth considerably more money to Apple.

Apple and Samsung End Smartphone Patent Wars

according to SAN FRANCISCO — The smartphone patent wars are finally over. Apple and Samsung settled a seven-year legal fight on Wednesday, ending the most prominent case in a series of lawsuits over smartphone patents over the last decade. A jury in May ordered Samsung to pay Apple $539 million for infringing on its patents. Apple initially sought to block Samsung phones from the market, but the technology at dispute has long been outdated, and the fight has since largely been about money. Apple at one point sought more than $2 billion, while Samsung had argued it owed just $28 million.

collected by :John Smith