It seems Apple is planning on finding one more source of OLED displays for its iPhone. The Korea Herald reported that last month Apple talked with LG Display to invest around USD 1.75-2.62 billion into its new OLED plant, called E6.
Samsung might soon no longer to be the only OLED display supplier in the Apple supply chain. The Cupertino temporarily agreed on the investment plans with LG display. The final decision will not be made until the Korean display giant holds its board meeting in late July.
LG Display, in the face of the strong contender Samsung that currently owns over 95% of the share in the smartphone OLED display market, is considering to build new factories to beef up its OLED production. The investment of Apple is speculated to be poured into one of LG display’s new plant, called E6. In this case, the plant is expected to produce mid and small sized OLED displays exclusively for Apple’s iPhone.
The report disclosed that it needs around USD 3.04 billion for an OLED product line to reach a production capacity of 30K units of 6th-gen OLED mother glass on a monthly basis.
According to an industry source, the reason why Samsung Display is the only OLED screen supplier in the chain was that it is the sole manufacturer that meets Apple’s stringent screen quality standards. LG Display is reportedly to be meeting 70% of them, while Chinese display makers need to work more on the reliability of their production to catch up with LG.
Whether Apple’s move to invest in LG Display shows it approves the quality of the Korean firm’s products is still uncertain. However, it definitely matches Apple’s strategy to prefer to partner with multiple sources of phone components. That helps reduce the risk of component shortage and gives the Cupertino-based tech giant advantages in price negotiations. In addition, Apple’s funding for LG Display is also expected to revamp the company’s finance from the lower margin, leaked another source.
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