China's BOE wants to break Samsung's control of iPhone OLED screens

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in iPhone
A Chinese display maker, BOE, is reportedly stepping up production of touch-integrated OLED screens in a bid to win iPhone-related orders from Apple.

iPhone XS Max in China Apple store


The manufacturer is ramping up efforts that began in 2018, The Korea Herald said on Wednesday. "Based on the [2018] L6 project, BOE was able to clinch a deal with Huawei to supply OLED panels for flagship phones," one source commented.

At the moment Apple's only iPhone OLED suppliers are Samsung and LG, mostly the former. Samsung has long led the OLED market, and was initially the only supplier with the capacity to meet Apple demands.

There's no sign yet that BOE has received certification from Apple, or even sent samples.

At the same time it would make sense for Apple to adopt a third supplier if BOE can meet quality standards. The high prices of the iPhone XS and XS Max can be blamed squarely on OLED technology, which is much costlier than LCD in no small part because of the rarity of manufacturers. OLED enables starker contrast with lower power consumption.

Like BOE, Samsung is working on embedding touch within OLED screens and hoping to use in this in iPhones, the Herald claimed. That could potentially make them even thinner and lighter.

What might put a damper on BOE's ambitions is poor iPhone sales, a problem since the December quarter. On Tuesday separate research by Longbow and JP Morgan indicated that Apple's supply chain is reflecting weak demand -- Longbow added that people are even searching for iPhones less often on the Web, in fact 47 percent less on China's Baidu.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Competition is good.  Just so as long as they are not ripping off Samsung's IP that would not be fair ... oh wait a minute ...
    SpamSandwichCarnage
  • Reply 2 of 7
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member

    What might put a damper on BOE's ambitions is poor iPhone sales, a problem since the December quarter. On Tuesday separate research by Longbow and JP Morgan indicated that Apple's supply chain is reflecting weak demand -- Longbow added that people are even searching for iPhones less often on the Web, in fact 47 percent less on China's Baidu.
    It’s still around 100 million OLED screened iPhones per year. How would that be bad business?
    jony0
  • Reply 3 of 7
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    How wonderful it would be if we would have a U.S. supplier for these screens?  Apple is in bed with the devil with both Samsung and China and can't get out without having to pass over either of them.

    Such a shame.  
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 4 of 7
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    Hope Sammy is shaking in their boots. Would welcome this. 
  • Reply 5 of 7
    sflocal said:
    How wonderful it would be if we would have a U.S. supplier for these screens?  Apple is in bed with the devil with both Samsung and China and can't get out without having to pass over either of them.

    Such a shame.  
    Americans can’t do it, don’t have the know how in scaling up. Ever heard about GT Advanced Technologies?
  • Reply 6 of 7
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,273member
    More competition is a good thing overall. It would be great if Apple (and others) could have an additional supplier of OLED screens. I do believe, however, that this article is inadvertently misstating the softening demand for iPhones: that is certainly happening in China, but not as far as I can tell anywhere else.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    I hope Apple doesn't get into business with another Chinese company. They need to spread out.
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