Competitor display manufacturer BOE may gain momentum on Samsung Display. The majority of iPhone 14 displays are currently owned by Samsung, but later this year and well into 2024, BOE may gain ground.
While Samsung Display apparently holds roughly 70% of the panel orders for the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, Pro, and Pro Max, BOE only produces displays for the smallest iPhone 14 model. However, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Samsung Display may eventually lose out to BOE because the latter firm is said to have won the greatest share of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus display orders.
Later in 2023, Apple will produce the iPhone 15 series, and BOE may provide 70% of the panels needed for the base and Plus models while leaving the remaining 30% to Samsung.
More importantly, the analyst predicts that BOE might receive 20 to 30% of orders for LTPO iPhone panels in the coming year, for the iPhone 16 series, even though BOE has not yet received orders for the larger LTPO OLED panels for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
Overall, if reality follows the analyst’s forecast, the balance of power may move in favour of BOE during the next two years, with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus serving as the focal point in the first phase and the iPhone 16 Pro models serving as a keystone in the second phase in 2024. As a result, BOE would unseat Samsung Display as the main supplier of iPhone displays in late 2024.
Previous speculations claimed that BOE nearly lost every order for iPhone 14 displays last year because the display manufacturer was allegedly discovered cheating after falling short of Apple’s quota. According to reports, BOE altered the display requirements in an effort to boost yield, nearly costing it Apple as a customer. The situation now seems to have changed, and if these projections are accurate, BOE will overtake Samsung as Apple’s primary supplier within the next two years.
