Apple could invest up to $2.62 billion in LG's new iPhone OLED factory

Apple appears to be widening supply options for future OLED screen deliveries, with multiple media reports claiming that it is on the cusp of a deal with LG to expand manufacturing capacity.

According to a new report by South Korean media venue The Investor, Apple is reportedly in talks with LG Displayto invest about 2 to 3 trillion won ($1.75 billion to $2.62 billion) in a new facility to exclusively focus on OLED screens for Apple. Citing multiple media reports, Apple and LG have tentatively agreed on the plan, with timing and specific investment amount not yet finalized.

"Samsung Display is the only display maker that meets Apple's strict quality criteria for now," said an industry source to The Investor. "LG Display is said to be meeting about 70 percent level of the requirements, while Chinese display makers are still struggling to catch up with that of LG."

In total, about 3.5 trillion won are needed for a production line capable of cranking about 30,000 OLED screen "mothers," which can then be manufactured into multiple iPhone screens per mother. Production from the new "E6" facility is expected to start as soon as early 2019.

At present, LG has more experience in OLED screen manufacturing for televisions.

Monday's report is not the first time that LG has been pinned as a future OLED screen manufacturer for Apple. In December 2016, Korean media claimed that LG Display had picked up Apple, Google, and Microsoft as some of the first customers for foldable OLED displays it plans to put into mass production in 2018.

A few months later in April, a similar report noted that Apple was pushing LG to enter the smartphone OLED screen business. At the time, the company was expected to make a decision by the end of June if they would delve into the market.

The "iPhone 8," is expected to sport an OLED display. The premium-priced 10th anniversary model is expected to feature a number of new technologies, with this year's so-called "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus" rumored to stick with the same LCD displays found in previous models.

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10 Comments

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

About 7 years ago

Someone else needs to be in the OLED business besides Samsung and Apple has done this before with LG with great success, it seems, so this sounds like a reasonable rumour, to me.

igorsky 773 comments · 9 Years

Would love for LG to become Apple's sole provider of screens. The less Samsung the better, as far as I'm concerned.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

igorsky said:

Would love for LG to become Apple's sole provider of screens. The less Samsung the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, the argument has always been about a conspiracy theory that alleges Samsung Mobile commits industrial espionage via its manufacturing business, that it knows about Apple plans well in advance because it makes parts for Apple devices. Samsung claims it doesn’t do that. Others claims it does. But I think Apple’s main objective is to find a manufacturer that can produce a part with the quality and in the quantity it needs. Right now Samsung fits that bill apparently or Apple wouldn’t be contracting with them.

macxpress 5910 comments · 16 Years

lkrupp said:

igorsky said:

Would love for LG to become Apple's sole provider of screens. The less Samsung the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, the argument has always been about a conspiracy theory that alleges Samsung Mobile commits industrial espionage via its manufacturing business, that it knows about Apple plans well in advance because it makes parts for Apple devices. Samsung claims it doesn’t do that. Others claims it does. But I think Apple’s main objective is to find a manufacturer that can produce a part with the quality and in the quantity it needs. Right now Samsung fits that bill apparently or Apple wouldn’t be contracting with them.

I can't see though as how Samsung gets tons of information from Apple just because it supplies a screen. How much information does Apple need to provide just to get a screen produced for them? Sure, Samsung may know Apple is going to use a specific size screen, but beyond that, how much more does Samsung need? I think Samsung gets more information from AppleInsider than it does directly from Apple.

macxpress said:

lkrupp said:

igorsky said:

Would love for LG to become Apple's sole provider of screens. The less Samsung the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, the argument has always been about a conspiracy theory that alleges Samsung Mobile commits industrial espionage via its manufacturing business, that it knows about Apple plans well in advance because it makes parts for Apple devices. Samsung claims it doesn’t do that. Others claims it does. But I think Apple’s main objective is to find a manufacturer that can produce a part with the quality and in the quantity it needs. Right now Samsung fits that bill apparently or Apple wouldn’t be contracting with them.

I can't see though as how Samsung gets tons of information from Apple just because it supplies a screen. How much information does Apple need to provide just to get a screen produced for them? Sure, Samsung may know Apple is going to use a specific size screen, but beyond that, how much more does Samsung need?

In terms of displays, probably not much, but if they are in the supply chain and the primary supplier it would probably give them a heads up over all their Android-based competition. While the pixel densities have remained the same for many years now, Apple has increased the quality of the display, which Samsung may or may not then use to match their flagship Galaxy device so that they can have, say, certain early batches for certain markets be as good so that Dr. Raymond M. Soneira of DisplayMate might review it more favorably than the iPhone. Personally, that scenario sounds a little far fetched to me, but at very least they'd be able to plan for an eventual launch from Apple without wasted efforts on overshooting a goal, while others have to wait or take bigger risks.

But I don't think that's the biggest concern for Samsung fabricating components for Apple. The bigger deal seems to be with making their A-series SoCs (and probably other chips, too).