LG Display is looking to supply LCD panels for next-generation budget iPhones from Apple scheduled to be released early next year. Industry sources said on Oct. 21 that the panels are undergoing last-minute quality checks.
The new phones are the successor to the iPhone SE released in 2016 and discontinued since then. At the time, Japan’s JDI and Sharp, which was acquired by Taiwan's Foxconn, had supplied LCDs.
LG Display had not shown much interest in the budget models, saying they weren’t worth them. "LG Display cannot afford to pick and choose as the firm is undergoing heavy-duty reshuffling and restructuring,” said one market source close to the matter.
As soon as the deal is confirmed, LG Display will look to modify its module manufacturing equipment. "We understand that the initial orders will be small in size,” said another industry watcher. "In the past, when LG Display was supplying LCDs to high-end iPhones, the facilities were for mass-production.”
The US-based tech company has been reducing its reliance on LG Display ever since switching to Samsung Display’s OLED panels.
Until now, LG Display had been making LTPS TFT LCDs at the AP3 6th generation production lines in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province for Apple. This line makes both LCD TFT and OLED TFT. It also makes LTPS TFT for OLED panels and sends them to the E5 deposition lines for small and medium OLEDs.
LG Display has been mass-producing OLEDs for Apple's iPhones from its Gen-6 production lines beginning in the second half of this year in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. It’s the mobile 2 plant combining the current pOT2 plant and pOC2 plant.
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