TOKYO, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Sharp Corp said on Wednesday its first OLED smartphone would go on sale later this year in Japan, marking its long-awaited entry into the market for the advanced panels as it seeks to catch up with Samsung Electronics.

The Japanese company aims to also sell its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens to other smartphone makers although it has not reached any deals yet, a spokeswoman said.

Sharp, a main supplier of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens for Apple Inc's iPhones, has been slow to shift the thinner, more flexible OLED screens because of high production costs, company executives have said. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chris Gallagher)