BOE is expected to become a bigger supplier to Apple and Samsung for their latest mobile phone models

Editing by Greg Gao

BOE, China's leading screen panel manufacturer, is expected to win more orders of OLED screens from both Apple and Samsung Electronics for their latest phone models, according to the Japanese and Korean news reports. 

Source: AP

BOE has started shipping a small number of OLED screens for Apple's 6.1-inch iPhone 13 in late September and is scheduled to increase shipments volume soon, pending a final verification process by Apple, Nikkei Asia reported.

This is the first time BOE has supplied OLED screens for Apple's flagship iPhone. Previously, BOE only supplied OLED screens for the repaired and refurbished iPhone 12.

People familiar with the matter said, "It is in the process of final testing, but based on the results of earlier samples, BOE should have no problem passing the tests. The cooperation between Apple and BOE is based on their previous project on the iPhone 12. Apple's final review focuses on screen durability and will end as early as this month.

BOE will share orders for the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 screen with Samsung Display. BOE's share will account for 20% of all orders. In the optimistic case, BOE's goal is to win 40% of the orders. Its Mianyang plant in southwestern China's Sichuan province will produce OLED screens for the iPhone 13.

According to the report by the Korean media TheElec, BOE is expected to supply more than 15 million OLED panels to Apple for iPhone manufacturing. BOE's OLED shipments to Apple will be about 10% of the total iPhone OLED panel orders this year if this goal is achieved.

BOE currently produces 1 million to 1.5 million iPhone 12 OLED panels per month. In the first half of this year, BOE supplied about 6 million OLED panels for the iPhone 12. As of October, the company expects to ship a total of 10 million OLED panels to Apple.

In addition, BOE is also developing OLED panels for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy A73 smartphone that will be released next year, which is a higher-tier model in Samsung Electronics' mid-tier smartphone brands, according to TheElec.