What They Say
BOE is expected to try again to become a qualified supplier of OLED panels for fitting to refurbished iPhone 12s. The company tried to supply originally from its B11 fab but is now planning to use its B7 fab in Chengdu. The report said that a quarter of BOE’s 16 million OLED panel production this year has been from B11. The main problem is said to have been the yield from B11.
What We Think
Apple is, of course, a hugely attractive customer because of its scale. However, OEM business like this is ‘a two-edged sword’. It’s wonderful when it arrives as it can transform supplier companies. However, too much dependency on a single customer can be very dangerous for the survival of a business if the customer goes away. BOE (or regular Display Daily readers) will not need pointing to JDI as a classic supplier that did really well for quite a long time, but then really hit the wall when Apple went to OLED technology, which it couldn’t supply. (BR)
