On January 25, according to the Report of the South Korean website The Elec, Apple supplier BOE recently revamped one of its factories in China to produce larger OLED displays, including tablets and computers, for devices other than smartphones.
In 2022, Apple is expected to ship 200 million OLED iPhones, of which BOE will account for 20% of these panel shares, that is, 50 million to 60 million units. By comparison, BOE supplied between 15 million and 16 million OLED panels for the iPhone last year.
The report said that after BOE became a supplier of iPhone 13 series displays last year, it is likely to provide OLED displays for the iPad in the future. The repurposed factory will be able to produce up to 15-inch displays, but it remains to be seen whether Apple will release a 15-inch iPad.
In fact, as early as last June, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman mentioned that Apple had explored the idea of using a larger display iPad, but he also explained that even if there is, the release is a few years later.
The report added that BOE's factory will have the ability to make OLED displays with two layers of red, green and blue emission layers, which will give future iPads a significantly brighter display. However, due to the complexity of the technology, it remains to be seen whether BOE can successfully commercialize these panels.
Industry sources said that Apple will have BOE make more high-end OLED panels for it in 2023 to replace Samsung and LG. Therefore, BOE will try to improve its competitiveness in 2023 with Samsung and LG to compete for the iPhone Pro series.
Currently, Apple sources OLED displays for iPhones from Samsung and LG, but it often tries to diversify its supply chain to reduce the risk of relying on a single supplier and ensure competitive prices.