The Galaxy M41 was recently reported to arrive as the first Samsung smartphone featuring a third-party OLED display. However, it appears the South Korean giant has decided against it and canceled the phone altogether.
A new report coming from Samsung’s home country suggests that the company has discontinued the development of the Galaxy M41. The handset was previously reported to be featuring a 6.67-inch OLED display from TCL-owned China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT).
The exact reason behind this last-minute change in the decision is unclear at the moment. Possibly, the sample supplied by CSOT couldn’t pass Samsung’s quality testing process.
The report by The Elec adds that Samsung would now directly release the Galaxy M51 instead. To recall, there was no Galaxy M50 last year. The company had released the Galaxy M40, though.
CSOT also wanted to supply OLED panels for the Galaxy M51. However, they were unable to meet the quality requirements and Samsung decided not to use them. So, the new smartphone would feature the company’s in-house display panels.
The handset is already under development and should be official in a matter of months. Its specs are mostly a mystery as of now, but reports suggest those will not be too different from the Galaxy A51. Expect a few design and hardware changes, and that’s about it.
Galaxy M41 canceled, but Samsung may still use third-party display panels in future
Samsung Display, the Korean company’s display-manufacturing arm, dominates the global smartphone OLED display business. As of last year, the company holds over 80 percent of the small and medium-sized OLED panel market globally. The company arguably makes the best smartphone displays as well, as it often manages to score the highest display rating from DisplayMate.
However, Samsung’s in-house OLED panels apparently cost more than similar offerings from the likes CSOT and BOE. And, in order to reduce the manufacturing cost of its lower-end phones, the Korean company is looking to source display panels for some of its phones from third-party manufacturers.
The Galaxy M41 could have marked the beginning of this huge shift from Samsung but that wasn’t to be. The company has called off the plans of using third-party panels on its phones for now.
Earlier, Samsung was also considering sourcing OLED panels for the Galaxy S21 from a third-party. It had reportedly tapped on BOE as the supplier. However, the company has given up on that idea as well, again because of quality issues. The next-generation Galaxy S flagship should use a display from Samsung’s sister firm.
However, Samsung still has plans to outsource OLED panels from Chinese companies, although that may not happen this year.
Since the company wants to reduce the manufacturing cost of its smartphones, some of its Galaxy A and Galaxy M series phones next year could well come with a third-party display, though.