LG finally becomes Apple's secondary iPhone OLED supplier

LG finally becomes Apple's secondary iPhone OLED supplier, thwarting Samsung's monopoly
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Apple may have released its first-ever OLED iPhone model years after some of its competition, but the move away from LCD screen technology has been a long time coming. The problem is not a lot of display manufacturers are capable of supplying these vibrant panels in the numbers required and in accordance with Cupertino’s quality standards.

In fact, Samsung was left solely in charge of iPhone X display production last year, leading to a pretty large gap between the handset’s official announcement and commercial release.

Despite Apple’s supply chain diversification efforts over the past year, it seems Samsung has once again scored exclusive rights to developing and mass-manufacturing the OLED panels used on the iPhone XS and XS Max.

Meanwhile, LG will probably have to settle for taking on the second supplier role as far as the next iPhone generation is concerned. Either that or the company’s OLED screens will indeed start being used for 2018 iPhone repairs.

If unnamed sources quoted by Korea’s Electronic Times are to be trusted (and they’re usually pretty solid), LG has finally cleared Apple’s quality tests “recently”, gearing up for a mass production start at the local E6 plant.

The factory has reportedly only been operational for test runs until not long ago, with a separate E5 OLED facility “mainly” utilized for R&D projects. It doesn’t sound like LG will be ready to produce the bulk of an iPhone generation’s OLED screens anytime soon, but any competition for Samsung is good news for Apple, which obviously wants to reduce its reliance on an arch-rival, as well as negotiate better prices for currently exorbitant displays.

This LG partnership could also help Apple leave LCD technology behind for good in 2019, although the rumored success of the iPhone XR may lead to a drastic change in plans.