Part of the’M’ series applied in the second half
Flexible OLED July mass production plan
Proposed’unprecedented price’ with support from the Chinese government
Concerns about deteriorating profitability of Korean display
China’s largest display company BOE supplies organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays to Samsung Electronics’ smartphones. This is the first time that BOE’s OLED panel has been applied to a Samsung smartphone. In particular,’Flexible OLED’, the flagship product of domestic display companies, will be delivered. Amid the rapid growth of the Chinese display industry, it is expected that Samsung Electronics will adopt a panel from the domestic display industry’s largest competitor BOE.
According to the industry on the 21st, Samsung Electronics is planning to apply BOE flexible OLED to some models of the Galaxy M series scheduled to be released in the second half of this year.
BOE’s supply of flexible OLEDs is definite as specific display standards are determined and related parts such as driver ICs and touch ICs are also selected. The mass production schedule was scheduled for July.
Flexible OLED refers to an OLED to which a flexible substrate is applied. Instead of a rigid glass substrate, a plastic material (polyimide) can be used to create a display that can be bent or bent. Flexible OLED is classified as a premium product among OLEDs. It is light and thin and has high design freedom, so you can make edge smartphones with curved sides of the screen or foldable smartphones that can be folded and unfolded.
Flexible OLED is a product leading by domestic display companies. Samsung Display succeeded in developing flexible OLED for the first time in the world, and commercialized it for the first time in the Samsung smartphone’Galaxy Round’ in 2013. LG Display also succeeded in mass production of flexible OLEDs in 2017, and Samsung and LG became a foothold to lead the small and medium-sized OLED market centered on smartphones.
BOE has also entered the flexible OLED market, but has not been able to stand out so far. Due to the high level of technology for flexible OLEDs, even aggressive investments suffered problems such as yield and quality. BOE developed OLED business centering on Huawei. It was a strategy to strengthen business competitiveness through cooperation with local companies.
However, Huawei was hit hard by US sanctions. BOE, which needed an alternative, seems to be seeking a breakthrough by supplying products to Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics is the world’s largest smartphone maker, making 300 million units a year, and is the largest customer of display companies.
BOE’s supply of Samsung flexible OLEDs is expected to cause a hurricane in the domestic display industry. It is limited to some models of Samsung Electronics’ low-cost smartphone M series, but this is because BOE has secured the world’s number one smartphone company as a customer. In addition, since it has met Samsung’s eye level in terms of technology, quality, and price, there is a high likelihood of expanding transactions with Samsung Electronics in the future. Samsung Electronics is also likely to expand cooperation with BOE to secure price competitiveness.
This is a crisis signal for the domestic display industry. This is because Samsung Display exclusively supplied flexible OLEDs used in Samsung smartphones. Samsung Display must now compete with BOE for its core customer, Samsung Electronics. Samsung Display is ahead of all in terms of technology, quality, and mass production capabilities, but as BOE is supported by the Chinese government, there are concerns about deteriorating profitability due to price competition.
Since LG Display does not do business with Samsung Electronics, it is not directly affected, but if BOE improves business competitiveness with Samsung Electronics as a foothold, it will have to compete for other smartphone customers such as Apple, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. In particular, BOE is already ahead of LG Display in flexible OLED production capacity and shipments, which is a burden for LG Display.
An official in the display industry said, “I know that BOE has offered an unprecedented price comparable to that of rigid OLEDs even though it is a flexible OLED to achieve the supply of Samsung Electronics.” . In fact, BOE has also promoted panel supply to Samsung’s flagship smartphone’Galaxy S series’.
In response, Samsung Electronics said, “We cannot confirm the contents related to the supply of products and parts in the future.”
Reporter Gunil Yoon [email protected]