BOE has been aiming to supply OLED displays for Apple for a long time, and Apple also welcomed BOE as a supplier as it wants to reduce its dependence on Samsung and LG.
In 2020 BOE did not pass Apple's OLED quality test for the iPhone 12, but later it it did manage to enter Apple's supply chain, for aftermarket (refurbished models) 6.06" LTPS AMOLED displays.
In 2022, BOE planned to ship around 40 million AMOLED panels to Apple. According to a new report from Korea, BOE's shipments to apple stopped in February, with several potential and interesting reasons.
First up is that BOE is facing a component shortage and cannot secure driver ICs. That was already reported - but the new report says that the main reason is that Apple has diverted its ICs from BOE to LG because LG has better yields.
The new report also suggests that BOE changed the design of its backplane TFT for Apple's AMOLEDs, without consulting with Apple. The new backplane circuit is larger than before. Apple was not notified of this change and when it found out it cancelled the orders.
Another suggestion in the article is that Samsung is gearing up its efforts to enforce its OLED IP (this was announced by Samsung itself) which may have resulted in BOE's design change and Apple's reduced orders.
It was recently reported that Apple has signed a deal for the supply of 40 million AMOLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 14. According to the latest report, the latest issues will not remove BOE completely from Apple's iPhone supply chain, but the US phone maker will reduce its future orders from BOE. Regardless of that, it is reported that Apple also aims to reduce its iPhone OLED orders from Samsung in 2022 as it is facing its own supply constraints for other components.
