The Chinese BOE has suffered another blow, with Apple having apparently chosen not to use it for the OLED screens of the next iPhone 18 Pro.
For years, BOE has been investing heavily in display manufacturing in order to secure iPhone orders from Apple. It even managed to provide a few screens for the iPhone 17 Pro, but according to The ElectApple is opting for Samsung Display and LG Display for at least most of its upcoming OLED models.
Citing unspecified sources within the supply chain, the report claims that Apple will make its final choice of suppliers before the end of May 2026. BOE would lag behind its two main competitors in terms of production quality and manufacturing efficiency.
However, the decision is also affected by the increasing cost of many components used in the iPhone. Although it has been repeatedly reported that it involves components like processors and memory, there appears to be a knock-on effect across displays.
Apple said that one of the ways it has avoided price hikes so far is through carryover inventory. This means buying inventory earlier than usual, in order to avoid price hikes later, and this now appears to include display components.
“One of the reasons for Samsung Display’s increased production in the first half appears to be higher order volume for Apple,” an industry official said, “rather than BOE-related supply issues.”
BOE won orders for the iPhone 17, as well as the iPhone 17 Pro, but its problems caused Apple to switch to Samsung Display. The industry official says that at most, “BOE could get another 3-4 million units of the iPhone 17” in 2026.
In total, this could mean that BOE would supply up to 35 million screens, mainly for older iPhone models. In comparison, Samsung Display is expected to produce 146 million OLED panels for Apple, and LG Display will ship around 82 million.
The future of BOE
BOE has a poor track record, most notably in 2022 when it lost millions of orders for iPhone 14 screens. The display company had chosen to make unauthorized design changes, likely to save time or money, and was therefore abandoned by Apple.
It later won orders for iPhone displays, but its technology would still be inferior to Samsung Display and LG Display. Specifically, BOE is reportedly lagging behind in the production of LTPO+ (lower temperature polycrystalline oxide) panels.
This is a problem since Apple is reportedly in the process of migrating all of its iPhone models to use LTPO+. This is expected to bring better power efficiency compared to the previous LTPO, which means increased battery life.
Given its lack of sufficient capabilities for newer displays and its repeated quality issues, it would seem that Apple should simply ditch BOE.
Maybe it will, but there have also been reports that Apple may have used BOE’s lower prices as leverage to get better deals with Samsung Display and LG Display.