What you need to know
- BOE will invest heavily in AMOLED and flexible OLED in 2020.
- Up to 70 million AMOLED screens will be produced, with up to 20 million flexible displays.
- BOE is rumored to be in the running for a future iPhone display supplier contract.
BOE technology, a display company that is one of the world's largest supplier of LCD panels, will be ramping up production on AMOLED displays significantly in 2020, up to doubling the number of screens the company currently products. A report on Gizmochina predicts the company will make up to 70 million AMOLED panels this year, and up to 20 million of those will be flexible displays. The industry definition for "flexible" display is somewhat malleable, so this could mean displays that are bent in addition to those that actually flex.
BOE is rumored to be in the running to supply screens for an upcoming iPhone. Apple does not announce supply partners, but the company reportedly uses Samsung screens on its AMOLED phones, and it hopes to add BOE and possibly LG to the supplier lineup in the future. BOE supplies some of the LCD panels used in Apple laptops.
While the top flagship smartphones use AMOLED exclusively, FierceElectronics reports that only about 30% of the current smartphone market uses the technology, and that number is expected to increase to 50% in 2023. Around 486 million smartphones shipped with an OLED display last year.
