Last year, Apple tried to move away from Samsung as an exclusive OLED display supplier by probing LG and BOE but their yield wasn’t nearly enough for anything but small batches or repair parts, so Samsung again got the lion’s share. Now, however, Apple is apparently confident that LG is finally up to the task, and has ordered 20+ million 6.1″ iPhone 12/Pro panels from it.The 5.4″ and 6.7″ iPhone 12 mini and 12 Pro Max models, on the other hand, have flexible OLED displays supplied exclusively by Samsung, and with the more expensive integrated touch module that Samsung calls Y-Octa. The 6.1″ OLED screen supplies shared with LG, are said to carry an extra touch layer to keep costs down.
Most important development on the iPhone 13 models from my perspective will be ProMotion with variable refresh rates through LTPO adoption on the Pro models.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) October 2, 2020
If this occurs, then Tim Cook will most likely choose to split the four iPhone 13 models into haves and have-nots when it comes to the integrated display touch layer, in order to keep costs down, rather than bet on uniform iPhone display quality as Steve Jobs would have done. Here’s the telling industry insider snippet from the iPhone display suppliers interview in the video below:
Lee: Yes. What the industry is saying is that if it was in the days of Steve Jobs, [Apple] went to strict technical standards and then eliminated all companies that did not meet the standards. By looking at the extent to which these companies respond – LG Display, BOE, etc. – [Apple now] will also consider the company’s margin, and adjust it.
In a nutshell, the Apple supply chain insiders are saying that Tim Cook, as a supply chain master, is more inclined to compromise with the iPhone’s build uniformity to keep the production costs down which may again result in only Samsung-supplied iPhone 13 displays having integrated touch module. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, would simply source everything only from the company that can do it the way he demands regardless of the extra time or costs involved.
