BOE Production Issues Force Apple to Shift iPhone OLED Orders to Samsung [Report]

BOE continues to struggle with production issues affecting its iPhone OLED manufacturing lines for a second consecutive month, forcing Apple to transfer orders for millions of panels to Samsung Display. The disruption, which reportedly began in November and December of last year, remains unresolved and has led to production halts on certain lines.



According to a new report from The Elec, the quality problems extend beyond Apple's latest devices and also affect legacy models. BOE supplies OLED panels for the iPhone 13, 14, 15, 16, and the current iPhone 17. Industry sources noted that issues involving the LTPS (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon) OLED panels used in the iPhone 15 and 16 were unexpected, as BOE has historically supplied those panels with stable yields. The problems also affect the more complex LTPO (Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) OLED panels used in newer models, a segment dominated by Samsung Display and LG Display.


As BOE works to identify the cause of the defects, Samsung Display has stepped in to absorb the shortfall. The company reportedly took over millions of diverted iPhone OLED units over the past month to maintain Apple's production schedules. Samsung Display's larger OLED manufacturing capacity allows it to accommodate sudden volume shifts across multiple iPhone models at once.

The disruption may have weighed on BOE's annual performance. While the company was widely believed to have shipped around 40 million iPhone OLED panels in 2024, industry sources estimate that shipments last year fell short of that level due to production issues in the second half of the year. Apple had increased allocations to BOE in recent years as part of its efforts to lower component costs.

Despite the ongoing challenges, BOE is reportedly prioritizing stable supply for the upcoming iPhone 17e. Reports from December indicated that BOE had taken the lead as the primary OLED supplier for the entry-level model, which is expected to launch this spring. The iPhone 17e is set to reuse OLED specifications from the iPhone 14 while adding slimmer bezels and a Dynamic Island. BOE has been assigned the largest share of OLED orders for the device.

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