After earning Apple’s trust, China’s BOE wants to go even further. If at first it only made replacement screens for iPhones, that changed with the 2021 models — when it integrated initial orders for iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini panels. Now, the company would be looking to grab a slice of displays that until then were exclusive to LG and Samsung.
Despite making OLED screens for the iPhone 13, BOE was not included in orders for the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. These use an LTPO-type display, with ProMotion adaptive refresh rate technology. It is a much more sophisticated substrate, and requires greater expertise.
In order to close more substantial contracts with Tim Cook, BOE would be seeking to participate, with LG and Samsung, in the production of displays of this type for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. its plans for 2022. It remains to be seen whether the work it has been doing, and which it will do with the iPhone 14, will “show service” for Apple.
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Basic iPhones without ProMotion
If it manages to share ProMotion screen production with LG and Samsung, BOE will mark a new step in its market expansion. The company would be focused on participating in the production of the component only in 2023 because negotiations involving the screens of all iPhone 14s would already be well advanced – who knows, even closed.
BOE’s steps, if confirmed, would even indicate that Apple would not intend to bring high refresh rate to the most “basic” iPhones anytime soon. At least not adaptively, since the screens of the non-Pro iPhone 15 would still not be of the LTPO type.
Of course, it’s too early for certainties involving even the iPhone 14 — let alone the iPhone 15.
What is certain is that Apple produces its cell phones on a colossal scale. Premeditating each move well in advance, to ensure supplies in the necessary order, is quite natural. In 2022 alone, the company is expected to market 200 million new mobile devices, thanks to successful end-of-year sales. BOE should make somewhere between 40 and 50 million of these panels.
