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LGD and BOE to Be 2nd and 3rd OLED Suppliers 
September 03, 2019
 
Apple likes to have multiple suppliers for key components like displays and in the past has used LGD, JDI and Sharp for its smartphone LCDs. Heretofore, only Samsung has been used for OLED panels but that is about to change. LG has been qualified and is expected to ship 6m OLEDs to Apple in 2020 and BOE is in the process of being qualified. Apple has been seeking alternate suppliers for its iPhone’s displays. The company is testing panels manufactured by China’s BOE, and LG has commenced mass production for the iPhone 11 lineup’s display panels.
 
According to JOINS, LG display will be responsible for approximately 10% of Apple’s display orders, as the majority of the orders will still go to Samsung. LG’s yields are reportedly less than Apple’s so if LGD matches SDC’s price they will be coming at a lower margin if not a loss. For the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max’s displays, Apple is reported using a variant of Samsung’s M9’s display material referred to as LT2. LT2 has been built specifically for Apple by Samsung, A decrease in display orders from Apple has resulted in excess buildup of this material report sources. LT2 is similar to the organic panels that feature on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Subsequently, this year’s smartphones from Apple will change little in terms of display quality. However, there were reports last week that the 2020 iPhone would utilize panels similar to those used by the Galaxy S10 and Note 10.
 
Figure 1: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch Outlook thru 2020

Source: Mizuho