Less than six months away from Apple unveiling the iPhone 15 series, The Elec reports that Samsung will start manufacturing the OLED panels for these iPhone models a month earlier than expected. While this usually starts in June, Samsung will begin manufacturing the new displays in May.
This change is due to BOE being left out of the production of OLED panels for the regular iPhone 15 models as it faced “problems,” according to the publication’s sources.
As already reported, the OLED panels for the regular iPhone 15 models will be similar to those used on the iPhone 14, but it will have a hole at the top for the front camera and various sensors from Dynamic Island.
The Elec says BOE is facing “light leak problems around the hole and has missed the chance to become one of the initial suppliers of the hole-display panels.” The publication goes forward, explaining, “the light leak problem is different from those in liquid crystal display, which happens the light from the backlight unit is not covered properly by the panel.”
That said, while Samsung will begin producing the OLED panels for the regular iPhone 15 models in May, it will still start manufacturing the displays for the Pro models in June as originally planned.
The standard and Plus models in Apple’s iPhone 15 series use low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT), while Pro and Pro Max use low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) TFT.
LG Display will also produce LTOP FTF OLED panels for the higher-tie models of the iPhone 15 starting in June. If everything goes with the plan, the new four models will be unveiled at the beginning of September and be available to all users around the second half of that month.
While the regular models will be redesigned, the Pro versions are rumored to get thinner bezels, improved cameras, and a new A17 Bionic processor.
