Kuo: Apple Picks BOE for Initial Order of iPhone 15 Displays, Could Potentially Overtake Samsung as Leading Supplier

[Steve121178]

Sounds like Apple is cutting corners on quality this year.

Probably keep the same RRP but a lower build cost means more profit as that's literally all they care about then they have the cheek to wonder why sales are tanking.

 

[diego.caraballo]

Do you not think that Apple has a clear standard that any partner has to meet? Do you think they will accept anything less than their spec? Supply dependence on anyone from anywhere is not wise. I don’t think depending on displays from Samsung is smart considering they are a strong competitor in the same categories.

It should be that way, but unfortunately as history proved, Apple has exerted a really poor quality control over Mac and iPhone displays over the years.

 

[unregbaron]

I love iPhone 15 news because it discourages me from upgrading in the meantime from my 12 mini.

 

[contacos]

I’m over these yearly releases with little to no innovation. (That goes for all cell phone makers not just apple) I’ll upgrade maybe every 3-4 years from here on out.

Same. Once u realize u just go back to using the exact same apps, the exact same way, it saves a lot of money

 

[Armada2]

Apple will still increase phone prices nonetheless.

and blame it on inflation etc

 

[IphoneX9753]

Well that’s one way to increase iPhone 14 sales by putting inferior panels in the 15’s and letting word get out 🤣

 

[kiranmk2]

Your comparison is off.
Korean LCD display panels were on par/superior to Japanese ones almost from the start,whereas Chinese never been superior to Korean panels not even on par as of now.
Apple is doing this simply to cut costs/increase profit.

The way I recall it is that Korea very quickly got on par with Japan and then undercut them on price to the point where Sony had to first go into a JV with Samsung and then just buy the panels from Samsung. The Japanese vendors outperformed the Korean vendors on the finished product due to their chipset integration, motion handling etc, but the underlying panels achieved parity very quickly. Chinese vendors (and BOE) have been making OLED panels for years - it's just now that they have passed Apple's validation.

 

[kiranmk2]

Yes, because they proved themselves, let's get back on this in 15-20 years and see if BOE is better than Samsung, because right now, it's not and I wouldn't want displays from them in my calculator not to mention my very expensive phone.

And that nonsense that China will produce everything and will excel in everything is proving to be a complete BS already. They are good at manufacturing stuff other nations designed and developed but not designing and developing their own products.

But that's what they are doing - they've learnt from the Koreans how to make OLEDs to a high stanadard (as evidenced by BOE passing Apple's validation tests) and will now look to out-compete the Koreans on price. The Koreans will probably still keep an edge on new technologies like QD-OLED and QNED but as OLED becomes mainstream expect it to go more and more to Chinese manufacturers over the next 5 years or so.

 

[Chidoro]

So no vrr for the regular iPhones this year either.

 

[ColdShadow]

The way I recall it is that Korea very quickly got on par with Japan and then undercut them on price to the point where Sony had to first go into a JV with Samsung and then just buy the panels from Samsung. The Japanese vendors outperformed the Korean vendors on the finished product due to their chipset integration, motion handling etc, but the underlying panels achieved parity very quickly. Chinese vendors (and BOE) have been making OLED panels for years - it's just now that they have passed Apple's validation.

Korea (namely LG display and Samsung display which btw are different than LG Electronics/Samsung Electronics) quickly overtook Japanese LCD panel technology.

I recall even a decade ago premium Samsung/LG LCD/LED panels were outperforming panels made by Sony/Panasonic and Sharp.

That’s why Japanese electronics brands decided to give up manufacturing panels and started using Korean (for mid range high end ) and Chinese (for low end) LCD/LED panels

They differentiate themselves with focus on video processing which isn’t relevant to this discussion.

The Chinese only catch up to LCD because Koreans abandoned LCD tech development in favour of OLED and Mini LED and high end LCD types (Quantum Dot)

As for the OLED,the market is even more Korean centered.LG Display obtained RGBOLED patent from Kodak (for large screen) and Samsung became king of smaller OLED panels and recently they developed impressive QD-OLED Technology for TVs and monitors which are used in premium Sony OLED TVs and premium monitors.

The quality and technological achievements of these 2 are far superior to what likes of BOE can produce.

 

[Wildkraut]

I used to say „wait for iP15+USB-C will be best iPhone ever“, but now after reading this „Get the iP14Pro while you can, will be the last good iPhone!“, heh.

 

[tridley68]

I would gladly pay more for a phone with quality parts its also nice to see apple not keeping all its eggs in one basket hopefully this means fewer shortages for the next gen phones

 

[MarcoPohlo]

I used to say „wait for iP15+USB-C will be best iPhone ever“, but now after reading this „Get the iP14Pro while you can, will be the last good iPhone!“, heh.

iPhone 15 Pro range will still be Samsung only.

 

[Obioban]

Moving to more dependence on China seems very short sighted. Hopefully this is just a negotiating tactic to get better pricing from the other options.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

I don’t know if this is a good thing. I prefer a Samsung display over any other manufacturer displays.

 

[thadoggfather]

is a price reduction gonna follow with that 'premium' manufacturer?

iPhone 15 Pro Max Ultra Plus BOE Edition

 

[SumYoungGai]

Speaking of Apple's standards - have we forgotten about the green tint on iPhone 12 models and the orange tint on iPhone 13 models?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-12-green-tint-glow-around-the-edges.2323327/

iPhone 13 Pro screen uniformity issue

I love the 120hz, but have noticed after a few days that the screen uniformity of my 13Pro is significantly worse than my outgoing 11Pro. This is especially evident at night with low brightness (say 10% or so). For example, in Apollo the left to right, green to red tint is extremely noticeable...

forums.macrumors.com

Those were with primarily Samsung/LG displays and the Pro/Pro Max models were not exempt. Apple does what’s best for their bottom line and I don’t believe they have as high of a standard for QC as we would like to think…

Not to mention the terrible batteries that Apple skimped on for the 12 models. Battery health degraded to ~80% for some people within a year.

 

[NightFlight]

Moving to more dependence on China seems very short sighted. Hopefully this is just a negotiating tactic to get better pricing from the other options.

Probably for more profit margin to satisfy Wall Street. There's a good chance they use the less expensive BOE panels, you know the savings won't be passed down to the consumer.

Apple continues down this path and it's upsetting. Almost zero innovation or legitimately useful additions or improvements to iPhones in years.

 

[ilikewhey]

BOE or samsung, as long as it doesn't come from india.

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple has placed orders with display supplier BOE for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus for the second half of 2023, with the supplier potentially overtaking Samsung as the iPhone's largest display provider by 2024.

Surprised Apple is going to keep the iPhone Plus model around when Kuo said days ago that Apple was looking to reevaluate the iPhone 15 lineup due to poor iPhone 14 Plus sales.

Apple is reportedly "seriously" concerned over the sales performance of the iPhone 14 Plus, the 6.7-inch non-Pro variant of the iPhone 14 lineup. As a result, it is considering ways to restrategize its iPhone lineup for next year.

The post outlines two possible strategies reportedly under consideration at Apple, with the first being to further differentiate the pro and non-pro iPhones, which was previously rumored by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Secondly, Apple is considering reducing the price of the Plus model of the lineup, which starts at $899, according to the post, which cites supply chain and industry sources. A price reduction of the Plus model means the standard ‌iPhone‌, which starts at $799, could also see a price decrease unless Apple wants to shrink the pricing gap between the two models.

Using lower quality BOE panels will definitely allow Apple to both differentiate the pro and non-pro iPhones and reduce the price of the Plus model.

 

[sw1tcher]

Do you not think that Apple has a clear standard that any partner has to meet? Do you think they will accept anything less than their spec? Supply dependence on anyone from anywhere is not wise. I don’t think depending on displays from Samsung is smart considering they are a strong competitor in the same categories.

BOE had once met Apple's quality standards (after several failures), but then they made a change to their design (to lower their manufacturing costs?) without informing Apple. When Apple found out, BOE got cut as a supplier.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-drops-boe-iphone-displays-after-discovering-unexpected-design-changes.2343768/

Maybe this BOE order is just Apple attempting to get Samsung and LG to lower their panel prices.

Nevertheless, BOE is unlikely to be excluded from Apple's OLED panel supply chain going forward because its presence puts pressure on Samsung Display and LG Display to be more competitive and cut prices.

 

[Mr. Dee]

October 2023, terminal commands on Macrumors forum to detect BOE or Samsung displays on your iPhone.

 

[High IQ Person]

It's funny - I remember around 15-20 years ago forums were filled with this kind of comment around TVs and not wanting a TV with a trash "Korean" panel when the Japanese panels were so much better. BOE (and any other Chinese supplier) will need to pass Apple's QC and specifications and the future for the mainstream is likely going to be Chinese displays.

While this may be true, there is a key difference here.
Japanese products tend to be inferior and low quality compared to the competition, but the consumers had a false sentiment that they were superior to others. Korean panels were outright superior to Japan panels from the start, which is why even Japanese companies switched to Korean panels.
Those people 20-years-ago falsely equated Japan with quality when the truth was that Japanese panels are dogpoop junk.

The difference now is that BOE's panels are still complete trash compared to Korean panels. Apple is looking to cut costs to lower prices due to sluggish iPhone 14 sales, so they'll compromise on quality to achieve lower prices.
This is common SOP for Apple to charge a premium for lower quality parts. The RAM and NAND are other examples where you see Apple opting for lower quality Japanese parts instead of superior Korean parts.

Japan = Low Quality

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

Bunch of racists in the comments lol

 

[High IQ Person]

Do you not think that Apple has a clear standard that any partner has to meet? Do you think they will accept anything less than their spec? Supply dependence on anyone from anywhere is not wise. I don’t think depending on displays from Samsung is smart considering they are a strong competitor in the same categories.

Specs can drop if you want to lower prices to boost sales of sluggish products like the iPhone 14.
Anyone can spout off a specsheet. It's like ordering pizza. You want a lower quality pizza at a cheaper price? Just tell them not to add pepperoni.