Apple May Have Halted OLED Display Production at BOE After Discovering Unauthorized Design Change

BOE's production of OLED panels for the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 has plummeted since February, according to a new report from TheElec.

Initially, slowed production was due to a shortage of display driver ICs from LX Semicon; however, sources say that doesn't explain such a drastic drop.

The most likely reason is that the panel maker likely changed the design of the OLED panels, such as expanding the circuit width of the thin-film transistor, and this was discovered by Apple, the sources added. This could have caused the iPhone maker to tell BOE to halt production, they also said.


Notably, Apple is not expected to drop BOE as a supplier due to the incident. It's believed to be more advantageous for the company to keep BOE and use the company to pressure Samsung and LG to reduce pricing.

Samsung recently said it plans to use its patents to protect the company's OLED business. The Elec also speculates that Apple could have alerted BOE to this, leading the company to look for workarounds to avoid any possible infringement.

Notably, recent reports claim that BOE has landed an order to supply Apple with 20 - 25% of the 6.1-inch OLED displays for its upcoming iPhone 14. This is estimated at around 50 million units.

More details in the full report linked below...


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