South Korean firms to benefit from iPhone 8 release

Seoul, Aug 6 : South Korean electronic companies will benefit from the launch of Apple's next flagship iPhone 8 smartphones expected to be launched in September, a media report said on Sunday.

The reason for this is that several South Korean firms provide Apple major electronic parts, including displays and memory chips that are used in making the iPhone and its other devices, Yonhap news agency reported.

Apple is forecast to release new iPhone models equipped with flexible organic light-emitting (OLED) panels, augmented reality (AR), a nearly bezel-free design and other state-of-the-art gadgets to mark the 10th anniversary of the iconic device's launch.

"Samsung Electronics Co, Apple and other global smartphone manufacturers are likely to compete fiercely to improve hardware on the occasion of the launch of the iPhone 8," Kim Dong-won of financial investment company KB Securities Co was quoted as saying.

Among the major South Korean smartphone parts providers are Samsung Electronics Co, LG Innotech, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co and Samsung SDI Co.

Samsung Electronics Co is the world's largest memory chips manufacturer and is known to provide dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and NAND flash memory to Apple.

Samsung Display, which controls more than 95 per cent of the global small and medium-sized OLED panel market, also sells OLED panels to Apple, which will be used for the first time in the new iPhone.

LG Innotech is the provider of dual cameras and circuit boards for Apple smartphones.

The company is expected to provide Apple with 3-D sensing modules, which are used for AR functions.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co is the major provider of circuit boards while Samsung SDI provides batteries and OLED parts.