Analyst firm UBI claims that BOE could eat into the market share of LG Display as it looks to ramp up the production of OLED panels for 2023 iPhones. The Chinese display manufacturer is reportedly doing so by converting three of its factories into OLED panel manufacturing facilities for Apple.

Until now, BOE has manufactured older displays for iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 at facilities in China, accounting for 10 percent of all iPhone displays manufactured in 2021.

It is estimated that by Q422, BOE would be able to manufacture 144,000 substrates every month, up from 96,000 currently. This will outdo Samsung Display’s manufacturing capacity of 140,000 substrates per month and establish the supplier as a serious competitor. By Q422, BOE’s manufacturing capacity is expected to exceed LG Display, making it Apple’s primary supplier for iPhone displays sometime around 2023.

The threat to LG Display is imminent since Apple is its only client for Gen 6 OLED panels while Samsung Display and BOE are more competitive and have other clients to fall back on. Further, BOE’s expansion could spell trouble for LG since it shut its smartphone division and stopped manufacturing LCD panels for iPhones earlier this year.

Our Take

For years now, Samsung has been Apple’s go-to supplier for iPhone displays and BOE has been trying to squeeze into that equation. Since late 2019, reports suggested that the latter got some headway. It then became a Samsung rival, with its current manufacturing capacity. If UBI Research’s analysis is accurate, BOE could surpass Samsung Display’s throughput in the next couple of years.