iPhone 8 Exorbitant Price Is Samsung’s Fault

Tomorrow is the big day – Apple will finally reveal iPhone 8 at Steve Jobs Theater. We’ll know everything about the first smartphone with OLED screen, facial recognition and almost bezel-less display from Apple. As excited as you probably are about the launch, there must be a part of you holding back – in large part due to the exorbitant price the device is said to have. It turns out Apple is less to blame for that… than Samsung #mobilemagic

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the significant raise in price for this year’s iPhone is caused by the replacement of LCD displays with OLED. It turns out Apple has retained Samsung as their exclusive provider of screens and the manufacturer has more than doubled the price of the screens. So, the company went from paying $55 at most per screen to $130. 

It’s definitely an upgrade that was bound to be seen in the price increase, but unfortunately (for users) it will only result in the bigger cost of the eventual product. Rumor is iPhone 8 will cost at least $999 but can easily reach $1,200. 

But Apple is looking towards the future and has already started building an R&D facility for OLED screens in Taiwan. Plus, it intends to work with LG display in 2018, as the next generation of iPhones will definitely feature OLED displays.

We’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s conference to confirm the price for iPhone 8, though. Tune in at 1 pm Eastern time (10 am Pacific) on Apple’s website.