Dodgy moves by a Chinese OLED supplier to Apple, may have cost them tens of millions in lost orders according to South Korean sources.
BOE has been caught out trying to trim manufacturing costs on the current model iPhone 13, by changing the circuit width of the thin film transistors on the OLED panels a move which insiders claim would have saved the Company without Apple’s approval.
The decision to try and get more out of a sheet of an OLED panel was taken in an effort to increase the yield rates sources said.
When the problem was discovered by Apple engineers the Company sent a C-level executive to Apple’s headquarters in the USA to explain why the Company trimmed the panels without Apple’s approval.
Ironically, the same executive is believed to have asked for an order for 30 million new OLED panels for the iPhone 14, which according to South Korean publication THE ELAC.
To date the Company has not received any orders for the new iPhone.
Insiders are saying that BOE will not receive any orders from Cupertino for OLED panels on the iPhone 14 series instead LG Display and Samsung have been asked to supply an additional 30 million panels.
BOE was already seeing the number of OLED panels it manufactures for Apple decline during the first half of the year due to the shortage of display driver ICs, and key chips needed for panels.
Samsung Display is expected to manufacture the 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch panels for the iPhone 14 Pro models.
These will use low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) thin-film transistors.
LG Display will supply the panels for the 6.7-inch phone model (iPhone 14 Pro Max). It will provide Apple with LTPO TFT OLED panels for the first time this year.