Chinese display firm BOE is said to be encountering difficulties producing the OLED panels that are used in iPhones, due to the continuing shortage of chips around the world. The shortage is anticipated to impact production this month and next month.
A report by TheElec claims that Apple has placed an order with BOE for 10 million units of OLED panels for iPhones for the first half of 2022. If this is correct, it would be BOE’s first contract with Apple for OLED screens.
BOE obtains its display driver ICs from the South Korean chip firm LX Semicon. Right now, the latter company is said to be falling short of its target goal, and is allegedly supplying driver ICs to LG Display before BOE. As a result, BOE is reducing its OLED panel production volume from three million units to two million units next month. It is unclear how this will impact on Apple’s 10-million-unit order.
The display manufacturer is expected to provide Apple with iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max displays. Only time will tell if it can maintain these orders.