In 2020, BOE Technology Group Company Limited became Apple’s third display partner to provide OLED panels for iPhone 12 series. Although the BOE provides a much smaller share of OLED panels to Apple in comparison to Samsung and LG, the Chinese display manufacturer acquire orders for iPhone 13 and will provide OLED panels for iPhone 15 Pro (2023) models.
However, The Elec reports that BOE is currently facing problems in the production of OLED panels for iPhones because of the prevailing chip crisis, worldwide.
Affected by chip crisis, BOE likely to cut OLED panels production for iPhones by 2 to 3 million units
As per the report, BOE purchases display driver ICs for its iPhone OLED panels from LX Semicon, a South Korean chip manufacturer, which is experiencing a decrease in production volume because of the global chip shortage and has prioritized LG Display orders for display driver ICs over BOE. For these reasons, the Chinese display giant will reduce the OLED production volume for the next two months.
The South Korean firm, due to the lack of production capacity from foundries, is supplying its display driver ICs first to LG Display, its other customer besides BOE, they said.
The Chinese display giant is expected to lower the OLED panel unit production volume up to next month by around 2 million units ts to 3 million units from the issue. Apple is expected to have ordered up to 10 million units of OLED panels for iPhones to BOE for the first half of 2022.
It is estimated that the display manufacturer will miss its target for units of OLED panels for iPhones this year by 10 million units; instead of 40 million OLED panels for iPhones in 2022, it will ship up to 30 million units.
Having said that, BOE is expanding its OLED panels manufacturing capacity by converting one of its facilities dedicated to producing OLED for smartphones into manufacturing OLED panels for IT products and automobiles to capture a bigger share of Apple’s business by providing OLED panels for iPads and Macs.
