Apple Screen Supplier Looks for a Life Beyond Smartphones
- Japan Display’s LCD screens are used in iPhones, automobiles
- JDI is shifting research to sensors as smartphone demand wanes
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Japan Display Inc., a struggling supplier of screens for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, needs another cash cow amid sputtering smartphone demand. The company thinks it’s found the answer in sensors.
JDI has shifted about a third of its research staff to sensor development, more than 100 people, from just a handful a year ago, Chief Technology Officer Kazutaka Nagaoka said in an interview in Tokyo. The company is betting on demand from the health-care industry for pressure and proximity sensors, Nagaoka said. They could be used in a wrist-worn health tracker, or even be made into a sheet large enough to cover a single bed.