Apple Reportedly Canceled Orders of Chinese iPhone 17 Pro Displays

[MacRumors]

Apple has reportedly reassigned BOE's planned OLED panel allocation for the iPhone 17 Pro to Samsung after the Chinese supplier failed to resolve reliability issues ahead of mass production, according to a new report from ZDNet Korea.

BOE was preparing to supply up to 10 million OLED panels for the iPhone 17 Pro in the Chinese market after receiving initial mass-production approval from Apple early in the third quarter of 2025. The supplier's progress apparently stalled due to unresolved technical problems affecting panel reliability, yield, and performance, making it unable to meet Apple's LTPO performance requirements.

BOE had not previously supplied LTPO OLED panels to Apple, which support features like always-on and ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz. It was purportedly hoping to supply at least 40 million OLED panels to Apple this year, but amid rapidly falling supply forecasts, that is now highly unlikely to occur. BOE is said to have resolved the issues by mid-November, by which time it was too late and Apple's supply plans had changed.

Samsung Display will now seemingly take over BOE's planned volume for the iPhone 17 Pro. Samsung was previously expected to supply around 80 million OLED panels for the iPhone 17 lineup. This figure is now projected to rise to approximately 90 million units as a result of the reallocation.

Apple remains dependent on Samsung Display and LG Display for high-specification OLED manufacturing as it scales LTPO technology across more of its devices.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Canceled Orders of Chinese iPhone 17 Pro Displays

 

[AAPLbuyback]

Apple is good about rejecting parts from suppliers that don’t meet standards. It’s one of the reasons Apple devices actually have value and last more than 1-2 years.

 

[fel10]

Apple is good about rejecting parts from suppliers that don’t meet standards. It’s one of the reasons Apple devices actually have value and last more than 1-2 years.

“Doesn’t meet standards”?

There’s an entire 70+ page thread on the iPhone forums filled with people unhappy with their screens — and I’m one of them. Sorry, but when it comes to display quality, Apple can definitely do better.

 

[djinn]

This is interesting because I had two iPhone 17 Pro's both with BOE panels. The panels looked ok but True Tone was super aggressive and made my panel look like doo doo. Ended up swapping it out and got a Samsung which looks great and true tone looks good.

 

[chmania]

Apple is good about rejecting parts from suppliers that don’t meet standards.

Which standards, really?

 

[neuropsychguy]

Which standards, really?

From the article: "The supplier's progress apparently stalled due to unresolved technical problems affecting panel reliability, yield, and performance, making it unable to meet Apple's LTPO performance requirements."

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Someone at BOE is about to not have a good day.

 

[awshucks]

BOE quality control: “Not much gets by us!”

 

[chmania]

From the article: "The supplier's progress apparently stalled due to unresolved technical problems affecting panel reliability, yield, and performance, making it unable to meet Apple's LTPO performance requirements."

In business, it's money, so maybe the other competitor had offered a better deal.

 

[neuropsychguy]

In business, it's money, so maybe the other competitor had offered a better deal.

Sorry, I don't understand your reply. Are you saying Apple has no quality standards?

 

[sza]

This is good. I don't know what's going on but I feel China's increasing hostility towards Japan, Taiwan, and Western nations recently. It is critical for Apple to reduce the economic dependence on China and diversify supply chains further.

 

[B4U]

This is interesting because I had two iPhone 17 Pro's both with BOE panels. The panels looked ok but True Tone was super aggressive and made my panel look like doo doo. Ended up swapping it out and got a Samsung which looks great and true tone looks good.

Mind to share how did you find out what panel your phone has, so that we can also avoid the bad ones?

 

[djinn]

Mind to share how did you find out what panel your phone has, so that we can also avoid the bad ones?

There's a thread on this in the iPhone section under the topic "panel lottery." Below are the steps they provided in the thread.

“For those wondering how to check your display manufacturer...

You can run sysdiagnose on your phone (press volume up, volume down, and lock button) all together for around a second. You will feel the phone vibrate.

Wait a couple of minutes and then go to Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Analytics and Improvements -> Analytics Data.

You will then scroll down and look for a file titled: sysdiagnose_XXXXXXXX.

You will click on that file and then click the arrow in the upper right hand corner and scroll down and click “Save to Files” Once it is saved you will go into your files and click the file to unpack it.

Within the folder that is unpacked you will click on the folder “ioreg” and then click the file “IODeviceTree”.

You will then use the magnifying search glass in the bottom right hand corner to search “raw-panel”. It will then give you a serial number.

I have an LG display which has the beginning letters of GH3.

GVC is the best of the LG panels but not as good as Samsung’s best which is the G9N.

The top 3 panels are:

• Samsung G9N • Samsung G9Q • LG GVC

 

[kirk.vino]

This is interesting because I had two iPhone 17 Pro's both with BOE panels. The panels looked ok but True Tone was super aggressive and made my panel look like doo doo. Ended up swapping it out and got a Samsung which looks great and true tone looks good.

This article literally tells you that there were no BOE panels in the iPhone 17 Pro. That nonsense panel code that some here keep relying on is laughable now. Those panel codes have never been officially confirmed and could be just the assembly lines, not the panel manufacturers.

 

[kirk.vino]

There's a thread on this in the iPhone section under the topic "panel lottery." Below are the steps they provided in the thread.

“For those wondering how to check your display manufacturer...

You can run sysdiagnose on your phone (press volume up, volume down, and lock button) all together for around a second. You will feel the phone vibrate.

Wait a couple of minutes and then go to Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Analytics and Improvements -> Analytics Data.

You will then scroll down and look for a file titled: sysdiagnose_XXXXXXXX.

You will click on that file and then click the arrow in the upper right hand corner and scroll down and click “Save to Files” Once it is saved you will go into your files and click the file to unpack it.

Within the folder that is unpacked you will click on the folder “ioreg” and then click the file “IODeviceTree”.

You will then use the magnifying search glass in the bottom right hand corner to search “raw-panel”. It will then give you a serial number.

I have an LG display which has the beginning letters of GH3.

GVC is the best of the LG panels but not as good as Samsung’s best which is the G9N.

The top 3 panels are:

• Samsung G9N • Samsung G9Q • LG GVC

All nonsense that has never been confirmed to be the actual panel manufacturers.

 

[dannyyankou]

BOE has had a long history of not being up to Apple’s display standards. It wouldn’t surprise me if this ends up being their last time working with them.

 

[Zaft]

Samsung be like….

 

[rp2011]

I was just thinking about how reliable all my Apple gear is. Good for Apple, keeps customers returning instead of returning their products.

 

[Sowelu]

It's interesting because BOE OLED panels are used in a few high-end ThinkPads and they were always stunning and looked nicer with better whites and not overly saturated compared to the Samsung panels (in my opinion).

 

[chmania]

There are no major U.S.-based manufacturers that competitively produce the high-volume LCD and OLED display panels for products like smartphones, TVs, and monitors that BOE specialises in. The display panel manufacturing industry is dominated by companies in Asia, particularly China, South Korea, and Taiwan. Two in South Korea, two in Taiwan. LG is no longer manufacturing phones, and I doubt Samsung would jeopardise its global presence by supplying to a competitor. So, it'd be BOE in the end.

 

[now i see it]

Each manufacturer's OLED panels for iPhone are very different. Example: LG OLED panels in iPhone 17 models are unusable for some people due to eyestrain, headache, etc, while the Samsung panel is much better.
So good riddance to BOE

 

[djinn]

This article literally tells you that there were no BOE panels in the iPhone 17 Pro. That nonsense panel code that some here keep relying on is laughable now. Those panel codes have never been officially confirmed and could be just the assembly lines, not the panel manufacturers.

I went off what the serial number showed up when I followed these steps. It was a J5VH for both phones.

 

[kirk.vino]

I went off what the serial number showed up when I followed these steps. It was a J5VH for both phones.

And where’s any official confirmation that J5VH stands for BOE? Someone on this forum made this whole thing up and the rest decided to run with this rumor.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

In business, it's money, so maybe the other competitor had offered a better deal.

Yeah. Those Chinese are renowned for underbidding the South Koreans and offering better value.

 

[djinn]

And where’s any official confirmation that J5VH stands for BOE? Someone on this forum made this whole thing up and the rest decided to run with this rumor.

Maybe dive into that thread and see what's being said. I volunteered my serial number and was told it was BOE. I don't have actual documentation that calls out serials to manufactures.