Apple’s iPhone X will squeeze global supplies of OLED screens, giving it edge over competitors

Home-grown mainland smartphone brands are likely to face stiffer competition buying high-end handset panels in the near future, as global supplies are expected to shrink after Apple announced its new OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen to the world this week.

Apple said the switch to a type of OLED display, called an AMOLED, would help the phone produce “true blacks” and more accurate colours than before. LG and Samsung already use similar technology on their handsets.

Global OLED supplies are already stretched, as are AMOLED screens – higher-end OLED panels being used on the more-expensive handsets – which are nearly exclusively made by Samsung.

Zhao Ziming, a senior analyst at Pintu Tank in Beijing which focuses on internet research, said Apple’s iPhone X launch will make it difficult for local Chinese smartphone companies to obtain orders from the South Korean panel titan.

Data from Display Supply Chain Consultants, which monitors global OLED market trends, has indicated that Samsung currently ships almost 97 per cent of global AMOLED panels.

On Tuesday, Apple launched the iPhone X with a 5.8-inch OLED screen, which fills the entire front of the device. Apple reportedly spent US$9 billion for a two-year deal with Samsung for production and supply of OLED display panels.

“Samsung’s dominance in smartphone OLED panel technology is impregnable currently as it has long been focused on research and development of the panels equipped on small devices,” said Zhao, who added that even LG Display, another South Korean technology giant known for its big-size OLED television screens, is lagging Samsung in mobile panel technology.

Overall demand and supply for smartphone OLED panels in the global smartphones market is also unbalanced as Samsung always retains the latest high-end AMOLED supplies for its own flagship smartphone models.