BOE is yet to receive approval from Apple to manufacture OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 smartphones series, TheElec has learned.
The company was caught having changed the circuit width of the thin film transistors on the OLED panels it made for iPhone 13 earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said.
This was done without Apple’s approval in a likely bid to increase the yield rate, they said.
BOE could not receive any orders from Cupertino for OLED panels on the iPhone 14 series because of this, they added.
The Chinese display panel sent a C-level executive and employees to Apple’s headquarters following the incident to explain why they changed the circuit width of the transistors.
They also asked the iPhone maker to approve the production of OLED panels for iPhone 14, but didn’t receive a clear response from Apple, they also said.
Cupertino seems poised to give the order for around 30 million OLED panels it intended to give BOE before the incident to Samsung Display and LG Display instead.
Display panel makers will likely begin production next month at the earliest.
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, key chips needed for panels.
Meanwhile, 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.
