apple lcd panel supplier made in china

The problems faced by tertiary Apple display supplier BOE appear to have gone from bad to worse, according to a new report. The company is now in danger of losing all orders for the iPhone 14.

Too many of the company’s displays were failing to pass quality control checks, and BOE reportedly tried to solve this by quietly changing the specs – without telling Apple …

Chinese display manufacturer BOE was only ever third-placed in Apple’s supply chain, behind Samsung and LG, but was still hoping to make as many as 40M OLED screens this year for a range of iPhone models.

The biggest issue is not with CPUs and GPUs, but far more mundane chips like display drivers and power management systems. These relatively low-tech chips are used in a huge number of devices, including Apple ones.

Yield rates are always a challenge for Apple suppliers, as the company’s specs are often tighter than those set by other smartphone makers. Even Samsung Display, which has the most-advanced OLED manufacturing capabilities, has at times had yield rates as low as 60% for iPhone displays.

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.

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.

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Apple tasked BOE with making iPhone 13 displays last October, a short-lived deal that ended earlier this month when Apple reportedly caught BOE changing the circuit width of the iPhone 13’s display’s thin-film transistors without Apple’s knowledge. (Did they really think Apple wouldn’t notice?).

This decision could continue to haunt BOE, however, as Apple may take the company off the job of making the OLED display for the iPhone 14 as well. According to The Elec, BOE sent an executive to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters to explain the incident and says it didn’t receive an order to make iPhone 14 displays. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 14 at an event this fall, but The Elec says production for its display could start as soon as next month.

In place of BOE, The Elec expects Apple to split the 30 million display order between LG Display and Samsung Display, its two primary display providers. Samsung will likely produce the 6.1 and 6.7-inch displays for the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro, while LG is set to make the 6.7-inch display for the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

According to MacRumors, BOE previously only manufactured screens for refurbished iPhones. Apple later hired the company to supply OLED displays for the new iPhone 12 in 2020, but its first batch of panels failed to pass Apple’s rigorous quality control tests. Since the beginning of this year, BOE’s output has also been affected by a display driver chip shortage.

Li Dongsheng, the chairman of CSOT parent company TCL, is expected to soon visit Apple Park in Cupertino. According to The Elec, that meeting is aimed at winning supply orders for LCD panels.

Earlier in 2022, Apple was said to be evaluating CSOT as a potential OLED supplier for iPhone models. The Chinese firm was said to be forming a team to evaluate the suitability of its production lines for OLED display manufacturing.

The company"s plan to expand will put it in direct competition with other Apple suppliers, including both BOE and LG Display. The latter of those two companies is the supply chain leader for Apple devices like MacBook Pro models.

Apple has taken steps to diversify its supply chain, and doing so could give the iPhone maker a leverage point to pressure other display manufacturers to cut unit prices.

The Elec is mostly reliable when it comes to moves by Apple"s suppliers and vendors wanting to enter the chain. It is less accurate predicting the outcome or ramifications of those moves.

While Samsung will continue to supply approximately 80 per cent of iPhone displays, rumours claim that a little-known company called BOE looks set to become Apple’s second-largest OLED supplier. Not only is this a sign that Apple’s lowest-cost iPhone 12 model will likely make the leap from LCD to OLED this year, but it’s also a sign that Apple is looking to diversify which manufacturers it uses, and potentially looking to ready itself for a move into the display market itself.

The company, which was founded in Bejing in 1993 and acquired SK Hynix"s STN-LCD and OLED businesses back in 2001, is ranked second in the world when it comes to flexible OLED shipments, holding a market share of 11 per cent during the first quarter of this year. It, naturally, is still a long way behind market leader Samsung, which owned 81 per cent market share of the OLED market in the same quarter. Still, with a sizable chunk of the OLED market already under its belt, it perhaps won’t come as too much of a surprise – now, at least – that the firm already has some big-name allies.

BOE’s surprising alliance with Apple isn’t the only time the two companies have worked together, either; the Chinese manufacturer already makes LCD screens for Apple"s older iPhones, and its tiny OLED panels are currently used in some Apple Watch models. It’s unclear how much BOE and Apple’s latest deal is worth, but it’s likely in the billions. According to online reports, Samsung’s deal with the iPhone maker is thought to be worth around $20 billion annually, so if BOE manages to secure 20 per cent of Apple’s display orders going forward, such a deal could be worth as much as $4bn.

Although BOE has managed to muscle its way into Apple’s exclusive list of OLED suppliers, and has invested heavily in facilities and equipment in order to meet the firm’s demands, the new partnership hasn’t got off to a flying start. According to reports, the company’s flexible OLED panels have not yet passed Apple’s final validation. This means, according to rumours, that BOE’s screens might not show up in the first batch of iPhone 12 models, and will instead start shipping on handsets at the beginning of 2021, with Apple instead set to re-increase its reliance on LG in the short term.

Scenarios like this, along with the fact that Apple is clearly looking to lessen its reliance on big-name display makers, makes us think that it won’t be long until the company ultimately stops relying on others altogether; after all, it’s no secret that Apple wants to control every aspect of its hardware development.

The display market could be Apple’s next target. Not only does the company already manufacturer screen technology in the form of its Pro Display XDR, but a recent Bloomberg report claims that Apple is “designing and producing its own device displays” and is making a “significant investment” in MicroLED panels. This technology utilises newer light-emitting compounds that make them brighter, thinner and less power-intense than the current OLED displays.

Apple’s efforts in MicroLED are reportedly in the “advanced stages”; the company has applied for more than 30 patents, and recent rumours suggest the firm is also considering investing over $330 million in a secretive MicroLED factory with the goal of bringing the technology to its future devices.

Selecting a Chinese company would be a surprising move, given the company has warned of the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on its business. Many of Apple"s major products, including the iPhone, are produced in China.

As Apple has its contract manufacturers like Foxconn and Pegatron building the new 2022 iPhone 14 series that will be unveiled in under four weeks, there have been some issues. The company has had to deal with the chip shortage, a shortage of workers, and problems with the coating on the cameras of some units reportedly cracking. Now, you can add power rationing to the list since it is affecting production at display supplier BOE at its factory in Sichuan, a province in China.

Reuters reports that BOE says it will have to "make adjustments" and it expects that there will be "no major impact on its overall operating performance." BOE has four assembly lines turning out displays in its Sichuan factory. Two produce LCD screens while the other two churn out AMOLED displays. TF International"s reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo points out that the company makes a small number of displays for the iPhone 13 series and older models.

BOE could also end up supplying Apple with some screens for the iPhone 14 series. If so, it means that Apple is desperate enough to find suppliers for its iPhone 14 screens that it dismissed BOE"s unilateral decision to widen the width of the thin film transistors (TFT) used on its OLED panels for the iPhone 13 models without informing Apple. For some reason, BOE was delusional enough to believe that Apple wouldn"t notice.

Apparently, BOE"s displays were failing quality-control tests and as a result, it decided to make things easier for it by widening the width of the transistors being used by the screens. Yes, BOE"s little cheat did manage to hike its yields, but it almost cost the company its hard-earned relationship with Apple when the latter figured out the scheme. Lucky for BOE, Apple did decide to give it another chance although as we said, the suits in Cupertino might have begun to feel the sweat beads of desperation first.

Apple is expected to introduce four new models next month. We should see the 6.1-inch iPhone 14, the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone Pro Max. Apple is expected to use a better quality display on the Pro models than on the non-Pro models.

Besides the above example, we should see Apple differentiate the Pro and non-Pro models like never before. For example, the Pro models will be powered by the new 4nm A16 Bionic chip while the non-Pro models will be equipped with last year"s 5nm A15 Bionic. In addition, the Pro models will get the new "i cutouts" while the non-Pro models are stuck with the same old notch. And there is more. The premium iPhone 14 handsets will come with 6GB of faster LPDDR5 memory as opposed to the 6GB of slower LPDDR4X on the less-expensive models.

TAIPEI/BEIJING/SEOUL -- Apple is in the final stages of certifying advanced screens from top Chinese display maker BOE Technology Group for iPhones next year, as the U.S. tech giant attempts to cut costs and reduce its reliance on South Korea"s Samsung Electronics.

The iPhone maker is "aggressively testing" BOE"s flexible organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, displays, sources told the Nikkei Asian Review, raising the possibility that Apple could source this advanced display technology from China for the first time. Apple will decide by the end of this year whether to take on BOE as a supplier of its single most expensive component, they said.

In the coming weeks, Apple and Google will unveil their latest generation of smartphones, jockeying to distinguish the new devices from previous models. But one of the most significant changes will go largely unnoticed by consumers: Some of these phones will not bemade in China.

A very small portion of Apple’s latest iPhones will be made in India, and part of Google’s newest Pixel phone production will be done in Vietnam, people familiar with their plans said.

China is still, by far, the most dominant consumer electronics manufacturer. But it’s not just smartphone production that is moving out the country. Apple is producing iPads in northern Vietnam. Microsoft has shipped Xbox game consoles this year from Ho Chi Minh City. Amazon has been making Fire TV devices in Chennai, India. Several years ago, all of these products were made in China.

When the first outbreak of Covid-19 shut down factories in China in early 2020, the closures roiled sales plans for many companies, including Apple, which had to cut its quarterly sales forecast because it couldn’t make iPhones.

ImageAn Apple store in Shanghai. Apple Watch and some iPad production has moved to Vietnam from China.Credit...Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Vietnam, which Apple had already earmarked for AirPods production in 2020, became a much-discussed option, one of the people said. Since then, Apple has started producing its watch in the country and moved some iPad manufacturing there. In Apple’s most recent list of its top 200 suppliers, 20 use factories in Vietnam. By comparison, 155 of the companies operate factories in China.

Apple plans to assemble and package a small fraction of this year’s iPhone 14, the company’s flagship device, in India for the first time. While most of the initial and most critical production for that device is happening in China, Apple will move some of its overall iPhone production to India later — mainly as a way to assess the ability for future manufacturing there, two people familiar with the plans said.

Even as Apple pushed ahead with plans, the company was careful not to antagonize China’s ruling Communist Party since the vast majority of its products are still made there. As China carried out military drills around Taiwan during Ms. Pelosi’s visit, Apple reminded its Taiwanese suppliers to label components destined for China as made in “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan, China,” according to a report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper.

Foxconn, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer, recently signed a $300 million deal to expand in northern Vietnam with a new factory that will generate 30,000 jobs, according to state media. The latest spending was in addition to $1.5 billion that the Vietnamese government had said Foxconn had already invested in the country.

But Google’s planning for next year’s phones demonstrates how hard it will be for companies to move from China completely. Google is exploring a foldable phone for 2023, but making a device like that, using newer screen and hinge technology, would probably require production to be close to key suppliers in China, these people said.

Over two decades, the tech industry has established an expansive collection of suppliers that make the cords, buttons and machines critical to assembling smartphones and computers. The concentration of suppliers reduces shipment costs and makes it easier to fix faulty parts.

LCD manufacturers are mainly located in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan. Almost all the lcd or TFT manufacturers have built or moved their lcd plants to China on the past decades. Top TFT lcd and OLED display manufactuers including BOE, COST, Tianma, IVO from China mainland, and Innolux, AUO from Tianwan, but they have established factories in China mainland as well, and other small-middium sizes lcd manufacturers in China.

China flat display revenue has reached to Sixty billion US Dollars from 2020. there are 35 tft lcd lines (higher than 6 generation lines) in China,China is the best place for seeking the lcd manufacturers.

The first half of 2021, BOE revenue has been reached to twenty billion US dollars, increased more than 90% than thesame time of 2020, the main revenue is from TFT LCD, AMoled. BOE flexible amoled screens" output have been reach to 25KK pcs at the first half of 2021.the new display group Micro LED revenue has been increased to 0.25% of the total revenue as well.

Established in 1993 BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. is the top1 tft lcd manufacturers in China, headquarter in Beijing, China, BOE has 4 lines of G6 AMOLED production lines that can make flexible OLED, BOE is the authorized screen supplier of Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc,the first G10.5 TFT line is made in BOE.BOE main products is in large sizes of tft lcd panel,the maximum lcd sizes what BOE made is up to 110 inch tft panel, 8k resolution. BOE is the bigger supplier for flexible AM OLED in China.

As the market forecast of 2022, iPhone OLED purchasing quantity would reach 223 million pcs, more 40 million than 2021, the main suppliers of iPhone OLED screen are from Samsung display (61%), LG display (25%), BOE (14%). Samsung also plan to purchase 3.5 million pcs AMOLED screen from BOE for their Galaxy"s screen in 2022.

Technology Co., Ltd), established in 2009. CSOT is the company from TCL, CSOT has eight tft LCD panel plants, four tft lcd modules plants in Shenzhen, Wuhan, Huizhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou and in India. CSOTproviding panels and modules for TV and mobile

three decades.Tianma is the leader of small to medium size displays in technologyin China. Tianma have the tft panel factories in Shenzhen, Shanhai, Chendu, Xiamen city, Tianma"s Shenzhen factory could make the monochrome lcd panel and LCD module, TFT LCD module, TFT touch screen module. Tianma is top 1 manufactures in Automotive display screen and LTPS TFT panel.

Tianma and BOE are the top grade lcd manufacturers in China, because they are big lcd manufacturers, their minimum order quantity would be reached 30k pcs MOQ for small sizes lcd panel. price is also top grade, it might be more expensive 50%~80% than the market price.

Panda electronics is established in 1936, located in Nanjing, Jiangshu, China. Panda has a G6 and G8.6 TFT panel lines (bought from Sharp). The TFT panel technologies are mainly from Sharp, but its technology is not compliance to the other tft panels from other tft manufactures, it lead to the capacity efficiency is lower than other tft panel manufacturers. the latest news in 2022, Panda might be bougt to BOE in this year.

Established in 2005, IVO is located in Kunsan,Jiangshu province, China, IVO have more than 3000 employee, 400 R&D employee, IVO have a G-5 tft panel production line, IVO products are including tft panel for notebook, automotive display, smart phone screen. 60% of IVO tft panel is for notebook application (TOP 6 in the worldwide), 23% for smart phone, 11% for automotive.

Besides the lcd manufacturers from China mainland,inGreater China region,there are other lcd manufacturers in Taiwan,even they started from Taiwan, they all have built the lcd plants in China mainland as well,let"s see the lcd manufacturers in Taiwan:

Innolux"s 14 plants in Taiwan possess a complete range of 3.5G, 4G, 4.5G, 5G, 6G, 7.5G, and 8.5G-8.6G production line in Taiwan and China mainland, offering a full range of large/medium/small LCD panels and touch-control screens.including 4K2K ultra-high resolution, 3D naked eye, IGZO, LTPS, AMOLED, OLED, and touch-control solutions,full range of TFT LCD panel modules and touch panels, including TV panels, desktop monitors, notebook computer panels, small and medium-sized panels, and medical and automotive panels.

AUO is the tft lcd panel manufacturers in Taiwan,AUO has the lcd factories in Tianma and China mainland,AUOOffer the full range of display products with industry-leading display technology,such as 8K4K resolution TFT lcd panel, wide color gamut, high dynamic range, mini LED backlight, ultra high refresh rate, ultra high brightness and low power consumption. AUO is also actively developing curved, super slim, bezel-less, extreme narrow bezel and free-form technologies that boast aesthetic beauty in terms of design.Micro LED, flexible and foldable AMOLED, and fingerprint sensing technologies were also developed for people to enjoy a new smart living experience.

Hannstar was found in 1998 in Taiwan, Hannstar display hasG5.3 TFT-LCD factory in Tainan and the Nanjing LCM/Touch factories, providing various products and focus on the vertical integration of industrial resources, creating new products for future applications and business models.

driver, backlight etc ,then make it to tft lcd module. so its price is also more expensive than many other lcd module manufacturers in China mainland.

Maclight is a China based display company, located in Shenzhen, China. ISO9001 certified, as a company that more than 10 years working experiences in display, Maclight has the good relationship with top tft panel manufacturers, it guarantee that we could provide a long term stable supply in our products, we commit our products with reliable quality and competitive prices.

Maclight products included monochrome lcd, TFT lcd module and OLED display, touch screen module, Maclight is special in custom lcd display, Sunlight readable tft lcd module, tft lcd with capacitive touch screen. Maclight is the leader of round lcd display. Maclight is also the long term supplier for many lcd companies in USA and Europe.

If you want tobuy lcd moduleorbuy tft screenfrom China with good quality and competitive price, Maclight would be a best choice for your glowing business.

BOE, which is a supplier for both Apple and Samsung Electronics, could invest up to $400 million on the plants, one of two people familiar with the matter said.

The plan underscores efforts by technology firms led by Foxconn, the Taiwanese device assembler which makes iPhones for Apple, to lower supply chain exposure to China amid trade and geopolitical tension between Beijing and Washington.

Northern Vietnam has attracted significant investment from electronics giants in recent years, becoming a major hub for the production of smartphones, computers and cameras, including flagship goods from Apple and Samsung.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (Foxconn) and China’s Luxshare Precision Industry also make or plan to assemble a number of Apple products in the area such as laptop and tablet computers.

The rest would be for displays, with BOE spending $250 million to build a plant on 50 hectares while suppliers would use the remaining 30 hectares, all by 2025, the person said.

BOE plans to make the more sophisticated organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) screens at the site rather than liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), the person said.

China’s biggest display maker by output is set to become the largest supplier of displays for new iPhones by 2024, analyst Kuo Ming-chi at TF International Securities forecast last week.