Interest in the iPhone has picked up considerably in the second half of 2019, a new report claims. It cites OLED display orders made by Apple to its OLED supplier Samsung Display.
Samsung will reportedly deliver 40-50 million OLED display panels to Apple for the second half of 2019. In particular, the supply volume in September is 40% higher than the initially planned order. That suggests that the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max have been big hits.
The report runs down the number of iPhone panels delivered by Samsung in the second half of 2019. In July, Samsung shipped 3.9 million units, followed by 8.4 million in August, and 9.9 million in September (up from the planned 6.9 million). Orders for October are supposedly around 9.8 million units, while 5 million are expected for November, and an unspecified number for December. Going by those figures, it would seem that the number will be closer to 40 million than 50 million.
OLED iPhone orders patch up Samsung/Apple relationship
Samsung Display supplies 90% of OLED panels for the iPhone. The LCD displays for devices like the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 are handled by a combination of Japanese Display, LG Display and Sharp.
The increased orders of iPhone displays is good news for the Samsung and Apple relationship. During the second quarter of 2019, Apple had to pay Samsung 800 billion won ($683 million) for missed targets. The payments covered the cost of display panels after Apple failed to buy as many as it had promised.
With Apple likely to ditch LCD displays altogether in the not-too-distant future, that likely means Apple will rely on Samsung Display even more.
Source: The Investor
