Samsung Display arguably makes the best OLED panels for smartphones. But the Galaxy S21 may not feature one of those. According to a report from DSCC, the South Korean company is looking to source OLED panels from Chinese firm BOE for at least one of its next-generation Galaxy S flagships.
Samsung is reportedly in talks with the company for 6.67-inch OLED panels for the Galaxy S21 Plus. It might also source a 6.67-inch Full HD+ OLED display from BOE for the Galaxy A91. The South Korean conglomerate is looking to reach an agreement with the Chinese company by as early as June this year.
Samsung Display is the biggest mobile OLED panel supplier in the world. Not only the company uses its in-house displays in its Galaxy smartphones but it also supplies them to some of its competitors, such as OnePlus and Apple. The OnePlus 8 Pro‘s Samsung-made display recently achieved DisplayMate’s highest A+ rating.
BOE, on the other hand, is the world’s biggest LCD panel supplier. But as the popularity of LCDs continues to drop to new lows and OLED display technology keeps improving, the Chinese firm is investing heavily in the latter. BOE currently sits third in the list of the biggest mobile OLED panel supplier in the world, behind Samsung Display and LG Display.
Samsung could use BOE OLED panels in Galaxy S21 Plus
Samsung traditionally uses its in-house OLED displays in its Galaxy smartphones, but that might change in the future. DSCC says the Korean company may start multi-sourcing OLED panels for its smartphones.
The report talks about several reasons why Samsung might go this way. Firstly, multi-sourcing will create a price war between suppliers, effectively lowering the prices.
BOE is known for making cheaper OLED panels as compared to Samsung Display. Multi-sourcing will also mitigate potential supply disruptions caused by some unforeseen circumstances.
Samsung sourcing OLED panels from other manufacturers will free up some production space for Samsung Display. The company is already losing ground on the market. Its OLED market share is expected to drop to under 70 percent by the end of this year, down from more than 90 percent in Q1 2020.
Apple, one of Samsung Display’s biggest customer, is reportedly switching to BOE for its iPhone 12 series. Many OEMs, such as Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, still use Samsung OLED panels in their flagship phones. Samsung Display can sell OLED panels to them at better prices than it could to Samsung.
BOE also recently reached an agreement with Qualcomm to use the latter’s ultrasonic sensors. Since Samsung employs the same sensor in its flagships, using a BOE-made display would not change things much for the company.
Last, but not least the fact that Samsung already uses BOE’s OLED panels in its Galaxy Watch Active makes it easier for the company to source more OLED panels from it.
DSCC, however, says Samsung might also consider sourcing OLED panels from TCL-owned CSOT. The latter already has ties with the Korean company for LCD TV panels. It’ll be interesting to see how things shape up from here.