Samsung and Apple are two of the biggest rivals in the smartphone industry, however, Samsung mints a huge chunk of its revenue not by selling smartphones but by selling display units to Apple via its Samsung Displays wing. However, it seems like there’s is another shark in the pond too. Chinese display maker BOE has expressed interest in manufacturing OLED panels for upcoming iPhones.
BOE is the main display supplier to Huawei for a couple of years now. It currently leads in terms of LCD panels, however, it is still waiting to make its name in the OLED panel division and it seems like this is the right time to strike the gong. As the report published on The Investor states, BOE will refurbish its B11 plant in Mianyang, Sichuan province in China where it operated manufacturing second 6th gen OLED panels.
Samsung developed its own technology to integrate touch sensors below the display that enables it to create a lighter and thinner display profile. However, Apple has stuck with touch sensors layers on top of the display with glass plates, polarizer, panels with self-luminous diodes, combinedly making the display bulky and thicker. Apple has been using the same dating back as early as the first iPhone in 2007 but it seems like the Cupertino-based brand is making efforts to gear up to the latest display-making technology that will allow it to integrate lighter and thinner displays with its iPhones.
Further, there are no intels whether how advanced BOE’s technology is but we do know that the Chinese display maker is gearing up for the first mass production that will allow it to supply displays for upcoming iPhones. It is a norm for Apple to have several suppliers for its components such as Samsung Displays and LG Displays work together to supply OLED panels for its iPhones and similarly, Qualcomm and Intel supplied the Apple chipsets where the former recently broke off and since then, Apple is in talks with MediaTek and other chipset-making companies to manufacture Apple chipsets for its upcoming iPhones.
BOE displays its prowess in the flexible OLED panels during an event last year. Also, Apple might award BOE to manufacture OLED panels for its iPhones since the Chinese company already supplied displays for its Macbook and iPad and also because it will allow the U.S. based company to diversify in the supply chain which is currently dominated by Samsung Displays.
