Apple supplier BOE is facing issues in producing the OLED display panels that are used for the iPhone, thanks to the ongoing global chip shortage, says a report from The Elec. Production will be impacted by the shortage “this month and next month,” said the report’s sources.
BOE uses display driver ICs for its Apple display panels from the South Korean provider, LX Semicon. However, the company’s production has come up short of its target goals. LX Semicon, due to the lack of production capacity from foundries, is supplying its display driver ICs first to LG Display, its other customer besides BOE, they said.
As a result, BOE is expected to lower the OLED panel unit production volume up to next month by around 2 million units to 3 million units from the issue. Apple is expected to have ordered up to 10 million units of OLED panels for iPhones to BOE for the first half of 2022.
The Chinese display firm internally had aimed to ship over 40 million units of OLED panels for iPhones this year, another group of people familiar with the matter said.
While the new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models were in short supply at their launch in September, currently both devices are in-stock and available for next-day delivery in numerous areas.