Quality issues and slow approvals could lead to a shortage of displays for iPhone 15 and 16 during the second quarter.

Korean publication thelec.net reports that Chinese semiconductor display business BOE has little inventory to supply OLED panels to Apple for both phone models.

Two different screen types are impacted.

It says BOE will take at least six weeks to resolve a quality issue with polycrystalline silicon OLED panels used on non-Pro iPhone models.

Meanwhile BOE is yet to receive approvals for producing high-end polycrystalline oxide screens intended for Pro models.

Tim Cook visits an Apple Store in New York.

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits an Apple Store in New York City.

“The Chinese display panel maker is currently a tertiary supplier of OLED panels to Apple, supplying some 40 million units last year,” thelec.net says.

“Out of this, up to 8 million is for iPhone 15 and 16 and the rest is for older legacy models such as iPhone 14.”

Fortunately, BOE is not the major supplier to Apple for screens; Samsung Display is.

It has been supplying 100 million screens for iPhone 15 and 16.

LG Display comes second, supplying 60 million units, the report says.

It says this year’s iPhone 17 will exclusively use the higher-end polycrystalline oxide OLED panels.