Samsung Display may lose significant ground to rival display maker BOE. Although Samsung presently has the largest iPhone 14 display share, the balance of power could shift in favor of BOE later this year and further into 2024.
BOE only manufactures displays for the smallest iPhone 14 model, whereas Samsung Display has reportedly secured around 70% of panel orders for the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, Pro, and Pro Max. But according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Samsung Display could lose to BOE later this year, as the latter company has reportedly secured the largest share of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus display orders.
The iPhone 15 series will be released later in 2023, and BOE might supply 70% of the panels requested by Apple for the base and Plus models, leaving the remaining 30% to Samsung.
More importantly, although BOE has yet to gain orders for the larger LTPO OLED panels for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, the analyst believes that BOE could get around 20-to-30% of LTPO iPhone panel orders next year — for the iPhone 16 series.
All things considered, if reality will jibe with the analyst's prediction, the balance of power could shift in favor of BOE within the next couple of years — the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus being the focus in the first phase, and iPhone 16 Pro models becoming a pivotal point in the second phase in 2024. Thus BOE would become the primary iPhone display supplier in late 2024, dethroning Samsung Display in the process.
According to earlier rumors, BOE almost lost all iPhone 14 display orders last year as the display maker was reportedly caught cheating after failing to meet Apple's quota. BOE supposedly changed the display specifications to increase yield, and in the process, it almost lost Apple as a client. Now it appears that the tables have turned, and if these predictions are correct, BOE is set to become Apple's main supplier within the next two years.
