Nikkei News reported that Hon Hai Group Chairman Guo Taiming said on Wednesday that Sharp will start shipping OLED panels next year.
The industry is rumored that the iPhone will introduce OLED panel technology next year, but Guo Dong did not disclose whether Apple will adopt Sharp's new panel next year.
Guo Taiming told reporters after the Hon Hai annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday: "We will be ready by 2018 and ship OLED panels to customers."
Guo Taiming did not say whether Apple is one of the customers of Sharp OLED panels, nor did it disclose whether Sharp's OLED panels are ready for smartphones.
Sharp currently supplies low temperature polycrystalline germanium (LTPS) panels to Apple and does not yet have OLED technology. Hon Hai has said that it will invest 200 billion yen to help Sharp develop this new technology.
In addition, Japan’s Kyodo News reported that Dai Zhengwu, the vice president of Hon Hai, who will soon be the president of Sharp, revealed that Sharp may lay off 7,000 people worldwide. Inspired by this news, Sharp's share price soared 8.9% in early trading on Wednesday to 136 yen.