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Nichia Produces 0.3t LED Chips for iPhone 9 Backlights
July 16, 2018

Nichia will become the exclusive supplier of 0.3t LED chips for use in backlighting of LTPS-LCD panels made by JDI and Sharp for the new 6.1-inch iPhone to be launched in the third quarter of 2018, according to industry sources. While LTPS-LCD smartphone screens with backlights using 0.4t LED chips have bottom bezels of 4.0-4.5mm, use of 0.3t LED chips can reduce them to 2.0-2.5mm, hoping to enhance LCD screens' competitiveness against all bezel-free OLED screens panels, Packaging of 0.3t LED chips for side-view backlighting of LTPS-LCD smartphone panels is more difficult in accuracy and stability than that of 0.4t LED chips, the sources noted, adding Nichia began trial production of 0.3t LED chips for use in high-end smartphone models launched by China-and Japan-based vendors in the first half of 2018. As the new 6.1-inch iPhone’s trial production is expected in July, small-volume production in August and mass production beginning September, Nichia's production capacity for 0.3t LED chips will be almost booked up by Apple in the second half of 2018, the sources indicated. In a bid to compete for orders from China-based smartphone vendors, Taiwan-based Epistar and China-based San’an Optoelectronics are poised to produce 0.3t LED chips, while Taiwan-based LED packaging service providers Everlight Electronics and Unity Opto Technology as well as China-based fellow makers Foshan Nationstar Optoelectronics and Shenzhen Refound Optoelectronics are capable of packaging 0.3t LED chips for side-view backlighting, the sources said.