Samsung has the lion’s share of display orders for the current iPhone series – the company reportedly produces 70% of panels for both the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus (which use regular OLEDs) and the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max (which use LTPO OLEDs). Meanwhile, rival BOE is only making 6.1” panels for the vanilla iPhone 14 and it got the smallest chunk of the order.
The balance of power will start shifting towards BOE this year, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. BOE has reportedly beaten out Samsung and secured the biggest order for iPhone 15 and 15 Plus displays, it is expected to produce around 70% of the total (with the remaining 30% going to Samsung).
Next year the focus will be on LTPO panels for the iPhone Pros. Samsung and LG will continue supplying panels for the premium models, but Kuo thinks that BOE can get 20-30% of the orders. If that happens and if it maintains the 70% share of vanilla iPhone display orders, then BOE will become the biggest supplier of iPhone displays in the second half of 2024.
BOE is expected to see a high growth in shipments over the next couple of years. The analyst forecasts that BOE’s profits will grow, driven by additional orders for medium to large OLED and mini-LED displays for Apple, along with cheaper foldable displays for Androids.