To Lower Production Cost
Samsung Electronics is planning to use OLED panels from BOE in its smartphones for the purpose of cost reduction. According to industry sources, the flexible OLED panels from the largest display manufacturer in China may be used in some Galaxy M Series models to be released in the second half of this year.
The use is a fait accompli on BOE’s part and the company already prepared a plan for mass production to start in July. BOE has supplied LCD panels but no OLED panels to Samsung Electronics. The South Korean company declined to comment about its trade secrets.
At present, flexible OLED panels Samsung Electronics uses are all from Samsung Display. The potential break of monopoly is because of a very low price. According to industry insiders, BOE suggested a price of US$70 to US$80 whereas the price of the product from Samsung Display is US$120.
“It seems that BOE, which has expanded its OLED panel business mainly with Huawei, is seeking alternatives with Huawei under U.S. sanctions,” one of them explained, continuing, “In addition, the offer is worthy of consideration on the part of Samsung Electronics, which is concentrating on inexpensive smartphones these days.”
They also pointed out that BOE has developed its OLED panel technologies to a large extent. “BOE is currently an iPhone 12 display supplier and it recently developed the display of a rollable phone of LG Electronics,” they said.
At present, Samsung Display’s share in the global smartphone OLED panel market is approximately 80 percent and LG Display, which has focused on OLED TV rather than smartphone panels, is raising its share gradually. BOE is outperforming LG Display in terms of flexible OLED production capacity and shipments.