Samsung Display has received approval from Apple to begin production of OLED panel modules for Apple’s first foldable iPhone, according to a report released today. The Elect.
Citing industry sources, the report said Samsung Display has started operating part of its back-end production lines in Vietnam to fulfill an initial order of around three million panels scheduled for delivery this year. Approval for module production requires a supplier to demonstrate quality of final assembly and stability of mass production, and Apple’s threshold would be a yield rate of at least 70%. Samsung Display reportedly surpassed this mark after achieving final yields above 80%.
Samsung Display will reportedly be the exclusive supplier of OLED panels for the foldable iPhone under a three-year deal, meaning Apple will not source foldable OLED panels from any other display makers during this period. Back-end processing, which includes adding driver circuits, flexible circuit boards and protective components before final inspection and shipping, is carried out at Samsung Display’s facilities in Vietnam. This site has around 80 production lines in total, around 50 of which are currently in operation, which leaves unused capacity given the relatively modest order of three million units.
The panels are expected to use Color Filter on Encapsulation (CoE) technology, which removes the polarizer and forms a color filter directly on top of the encapsulation layer, as well as Samsung Display’s latest M16 OLED material set. The M16 battery is said to bring improvements in brightness, color performance, lifespan and energy efficiency compared to previous generations.
Apple’s foldable iPhone is rumored to feature a 7.8-inch interior display and a 5.5-inch cover display, as well as Touch ID instead of Face ID, an A20 chip, and Apple’s C2 modem, with pricing expected to start around $2,000.
