Supply of AMOLED panels for smartphone applications could be short of demand in 2017 due to increasing purchases from China-based smartphone vendors, according to sources from the handset supply chain in Taiwan.

China's smartphone vendors have stepped up their procurement of AMOLED panels recently on rising speculations indicating that Apple will employ AMOLED technology to realize a new design paradigm when it launches its next-generation iPhone devices in 2017, the sources noted.

To cope with the new design trend, China-based smartphone vendors are buying AMOLED panels to develop new flagship models to be launched in 2017, the sources revealed.

Although Samsung Display have continued expanding its production of AMOLED panels, demand from Apple and China's smartphone vendors in 2017 could outpace the supply capacity from Samsung, the sources commented.