What Display Daily thinks: This is apropos a general trend exemplified by the recent news about a US smartphone slump that highlights the impact of premium phone sales. It’s from the persepective of the whole industry. Too many times the emphasis is put on companies that are fueling the stock market, meaning that everyone is looking at a handful of very dominant businesses and trying to predict the fluctuations in their performance, while the really interesting stuff is in how the whole industry develops. Premium displays are producible by a premium group of companies. A handful at most. A premium display opportunity is not a rising tide that lifts all boats.
So, there are two ways of looking at the emphasis on the strength of premium displays, whether it is in the TV market or for smartphones: one way is to see it as a hedge against declining volumes in all sectors, and the other way is to look at it as providing short-term succor for companies feeling the pressure of needing to deliver positive quarterly reports to investors.
In the first instance, premium displays are strategically viable but only for a small percentage of the industry, as I said earlier, namely those that have the capacity and technology to deliver at the highest levels and maybe have companies like Apple las customers. That’s not great news for about 80% of the industry that doesn’t have those facilities and customers.
In the second instance, the expectation is that the premium market can help weather the storm of lost volumes, and sluggish demand, by front-loading revenues with bright shiny objects. That seems to be how Apple’s cheerleaders in the press are viewing the price hikes for the iPhone 15.
So, most companies in the display industry don’t benefit from premium display sales but it gives them hope and, apparently, the consumer will happily go along with higher prices because they want to keep stock prices up. Premium display sales are not a panacea for the issues facing the industry, but they make for good news and everyone can use a little bit of that every time a financial quarter is coming to an end.
Apple Juggles Three Balls, Drops One, Fumbles Another?
Samsung has emerged as the primary supplier for the iPhone 15, claiming about three-quarters of the initial production volume. UBI Research believes that Samsung would likely supply around 70 million units, while LG is projected to handle approximately 25 million units. Sadly for BOE, it is expected to only get some dregs of Apple business, maybe 5 million displays worth or maybe just 1% of shipments which could be even lower than that.
Originally, BOE was slated to provide OLED panels for the standard iPhone 15 models. However, production challenges emerged for the company, specifically issues with light leakage and yield during the manufacturing process related to the dynamic island.
Some projections say Apple is going to be shipping 100-115 million iPhone 15s before the year ends. Some analysts are pegging numbers below 90 million. It’s hard to tell how things will go, but not so hard to say that the premium display business in smartphones is firmly in Samsung’s grip as it is now the dominant supplier for its own phones and those from Apple. That’s about as powerful a position as any company could be in, and one that suggests Apple had little choice in the matter. Samsung seems to be the only company with the necessary manufacturing tech and capacity to meet Apple’s stringent requirements for its high-priced products.
