Recently, the Chinese mainland's BOE, the panel giant, held a iPhone13 OLED panel shipping ceremony in a low profile. The ceremony marked that BOE OLED panel officially passed the product certification of Apple's iphone13 and began mass supply. The news that Apple's new iPhone 13 screen has been successfully mass produced and shipped on BOE's Mianyang production line has finally been confirmed.

Apple orders are hard won
In fact, as early as September this year, the news about JD's supply of flexible OLED display for iphone13 has come out and attracted extensive attention. However, according to the situation at that time, the order Apple gave BOE was a risk order, also known as conditional approval. This means that BOE failed to meet 100% of Apple's requirements at that time. It needs to solve relevant problems before it can provide products for it.

"In terms of quality control of mobile phone screens, apple is famous in the industry for its strict control over all aspects of the supply chain." Liu Huang, senior analyst of CCID Consulting Industry Research, said that Apple's review of small and medium-sized mobile phone screens is more stringent than that of notebook products using LCD screens, BOE has been committed to entering the supply ranks of small and medium-sized OLED screens in recent years.

It is understood that in the certification process of iphone13, BOE products have encountered difficulties in the characteristics of luminous materials and touch screens, which have been solved through the adjustment of materials and technology. In September this year, BOE obtained the limited certification and risk mass production license of apple iphone13. The two sides agreed to make up for the shortcomings within a certain period of time before it can obtain formal recognition and realize mass supply. A month later, BOE reached Apple's demanding requirements.

According to people familiar with the matter, at present, BOE has passed the qualification examination of apple and officially entered the mass production stage of iphone13 display screen, becoming the only domestic panel manufacturer participating in the supply of new iPhone products. BOE's B11 factory in Mianyang has set up a flexible OLED panel production line for apple. Recently, the shipment of Mianyang B11 factory has increased significantly. At present, the production line has successfully mass produced and shipped the new iPhone 13 screen.

Liu Huang told China Electronics News that BOE's shipments of OLED screens for iphone13 can reach tens of millions, while the annual sales of iPhones are about 200 million. Therefore, this proportion is still considerable, indicating that BOE has the ability to supply in large quantities and has been recognized by apple for its supply capacity in small and medium sizes.

It is reported that BOE has been supplying iphone12 OLED panels for Apple since last year. According to runto data, BOE delivered about 5.5 million iphone12 in the first half of 2021. As of October, the overall shipment of BOE's iPhone OLED had reached 12 million. In the first quarter of this year, BOE made great efforts to climb in terms of production capacity and yield. Since May, the monthly shipment of iPhone panels has stabilized at 1.5 million to 1.9 million.

According to this judgment, the shipment of Apple project in 2021 will be 15 million to 16 million pieces, which greatly exceeds the industrial chain's expectation of BOE's supply of 10 million pieces at the beginning of the year. According to Apple's sales target of about 160 million OLED iPhones, BOE's supply share will reach about 10%.

China joins the global OLED competition
What does it mean that BOE successfully won the order for Apple's iPhone 13 flexible screen this time?

For a long time, in the cognition of consumers, it seems that only foreign enterprises such as Samsung and LG can supply flexible OLED panels to high-end smartphones such as apple. Today, BOE has become a breaker.

At present, orders for iphone13 series screens come from Samsung, LG and BOE. BOE has become the only Chinese enterprise producing iphone13 OLED panel, marking that the iPhone screen supply pattern dominated by Korean enterprises has been broken. Omdia, a global market research firm, once mentioned in a forecast report that apple is expected to buy 172 million flexible OLED panels from Samsung, LGD and BOE in 2021, including 106 million flexible OLED displays (5.4 inches, 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches) for iPhone13.

"At present, the whole OLED investment layout is concentrated in South Korea and China, and there are two suppliers of Samsung and LGD in South Korea." Wang Xiaoya, a senior analyst of Qunzhi Consulting's mobile business department, once told China Electronics News that Apple generally needs three suppliers to balance, so Chinese manufacturers also have further development opportunities. In addition, Apple's assembly plant is located in China, so it has natural geographical advantages to purchase nearby.

With the continuous improvement of domestic flexible OLED technology and the continuous enhancement of the comprehensive strength of domestic flexible panel manufacturers, domestic panel manufacturers represented by BOE are making a strong breakthrough and fully joining the ranks of global flexible OLED panel competition. According to Qunzhi consulting data, in the first half of 2021, China's OLED panel shipments reached 62 million, a year-on-year increase of about 93%.

"In the future, more international companies around the world will purchase Chinese OLED panels, and Chinese panel factories will deeply participate in the competition of global industries," Wang Xiaoya said.

Liu Huang told China Electronics News that for domestic display panel manufacturers, entering Apple's supply chain may also face some risks. Apple's supply chain will change and adjust from time to time. For some small and medium-sized enterprises, if they are eliminated after entering the apple supply chain system, they will be greatly affected in the short term; The anti risk ability of some large enterprises is stronger.

Work towards ltpo
According to the latest industrial chain news, after iphone12 and iphone13, BOE will continue to supply OLED panels for next year's iPhone series.

Apple plans to launch the iPhone 14 series next year, including 4 models: 6.06-inch basic model, 6.7-inch plus, 6.06-inch pro and 6.7-inch Pro max. According to Apple's rules, low temperature polycrystalline oxide (ltpo) TFTs are expected to be used for the latter two models. In the first two models, the 6.06-inch basic model will still follow the LTPS TFT, and the 6.7-inch plus has not yet determined whether to adopt LTPS or ltpo.

At present, LGD and BOE are still immature in ltpo TFT. Therefore, the ltpo panel adopted by iphone13 for the first time this year is only from Samsung. Apple hopes to reduce its dependence on Samsung and does not want its proportion to increase further. If neither LGD nor BOE can stably supply ltpo OLEDs, from Apple's supplier strategy, it is not necessary to apply ltpo to the three products in the iPhone 14 series.

BOE can first ensure the 6.06 inch basic model, because the size of the previously approved iphone12 and this year's conditionally approved iphone13 basic models are 6.06 inches. Insiders said that the mobile phone screen supplied by BOE to Apple does not involve ltpo technology, which is still provided by Samsung alone. In the next step, BOE and Korean LGD may work towards ltpo, a more cutting-edge direction.