Rumors about Apple’s upcoming flagship iPhone lineup, the iPhone 14 series, have been around for a long time. One of the biggest rumors around the series is the new display. It was reported a few weeks ago that Apple might finally be ditching the massive notch and adopting a hole-punch design. This time the rumors revolve around the quality of the panels and suppliers. According to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), in 2022 there will be only one exclusive supplier to display one of the company’s “Pro”iPhones – the alleged iPhone 14 Pro.
Samsung LTPO exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro
Young’s statement comes via Twitter. On Friday, he posted a poll on Twitter asking users which model would get exclusive OLED screens from Samsung, Apple’s competitor in the smartphone world. Although all four of the rumored models received votes, the majority voted for the iPhone 14 Pro Max. In the next thread, Yang tweeted that they were indeed wrong and that the iPhone 14 Pro would only get OLED screens from Samsung. He added that the remaining three models, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max, will be received by different suppliers. These can be Samsung Display, BOE and LG Display.
LG and BOE to supply LTPO displays for other iPhone 14 models
It has been reported that while Samsung will supply 6.1-inch LTPO (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) OLED panels for the iPhone 14 Pro, shipments of the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max panels will be split between Samsung Display and LG Display. A separate report from the ithome website adds that 20 to 25% of iPhone 14 orders will come from BOE, while the iPhone 14 Max screen will also come from LG and Samsung. Apple likely wants LG to only make LTPO panels for one of its “Pro”models, as the firm doesn’t have much experience in making LTPO panels and doesn’t have as much capability as Samsung.
It’s worth adding that last year Samsung was the sole supplier of LTPO panels for the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, while LG and BOE supplied the panels for the iPhone 13 and 13 mini. The use of LTPO this year also means the iPhone will get a dynamic refresh rate.