Apple to increase OLED panel orders from Samsung
Apple recently released a new generation of the iPhone 14 series. With the increasing demand for the high-end iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple intends to increase Samsung’s order volume to produce more LTPO OLED panels for these two models.
Image: Apple
According to The Elec, Samsung originally planned to supply Apple with 130 million LTPO OLED panels for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, but has now raised shipments to 149 million. In order to meet the demands of Apple’s orders, Samsung has ordered more equipment from multiple suppliers to increase the production capacity of LTPO OLED panels since the end of last month.
The reason why Apple favors Samsung is that its LTPO OLED panel has a higher yield rate. Samsung is the first manufacturer of LTPO OLED panels and has more experience than its competitors. Samsung first made its first LTPO OLED panel for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in 2020 and encountered similar yield issues at the time, but production has since stabilized.
It is said that LG’s supply of the iPhone 14 series this year is its first mass production of LTPO OLED panels, accounting for 12% of the total shipments. In comparison, BOE only accounts for about 6% of the panel orders for the iPhone 14 series, and only supplies the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models. While both LG and BOE have struggled to secure more orders over the past year, Samsung has been little affected.
It is reported that Apple’s iPhone 14 series shipment target for the rest of this year is 90 million units, which is a remarkable number considering the decline in consumer market demand and the prevailing global inflation problem.
