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| Apple deceived by one of its Chinese suppliers |
Chinese display maker BOE could lose up to 30 million orders from Apple to provide screens for the upcoming iPhone 14 due to iPhone 13 screen design fraud.
BOE ranks third in Apple's supply chain after Samsung and LG. But it still hopes to produce up to 40 million OLED screens for a range of iPhone models this year.
The company is working hard to procure enough display driver chips. It also suffers from low productivity - the percentage of units that pass quality tests.
Response rates have been a challenge for Apple suppliers because the company's specifications are often more stringent than those of other smartphone manufacturers.
Apparently, the Bank of England is suffering from such low yields that it decided to cheat by lowering the specifications of the iPhone screen.
Last October, Apple commissioned BOE to manufacture the iPhone 13 screens. But many of the company's screens failed quality tests. BOE tried to fix the problem by changing the specifications without notifying Apple.
But the deal ended when Apple discovered that BOE had changed the circuit widths of the thin-film transistors on the OLED panels it made for the iPhone 13 earlier this year, making them thicker and therefore easier to fabricate.
Apple has not agreed to this change. Therefore, the Bank of England cannot accept orders for iPhone 14 OLED panels from Cupertino.
After the incident, the Chinese company sent a CEO and employees to Apple's headquarters to explain the change in transistor circuit display.
They also asked iPhone manufacturers for permission to produce OLED panels for the iPhone 14. However, they did not get a clear answer from them.
The Cupertino-based company appears ready to transfer the order of 30 million OLED panels (which were originally supposed to be delivered to the Bank of England before the accident) to Samsung and LG.
Panel manufacturers could start production as early as next month. BOE has not yet received Apple's approval to produce OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 series smartphones.
The Bank of England has not yet received approval from Apple
Apple's BOE OLED panel production fell in the first half of this year due to a lack of key chips needed for integrated circuits and display driver panels.
Meanwhile, Samsung is expected to produce 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screens for the iPhone 14 Pro models. These displays use LTPO thin-film transistors.
On the other hand, LG provides the panels for the 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max model. Apple is shipping LTPO TFT OLED panels for the first time this year.
BOE previously only made screens for refurbished iPhones. They also make LCD screens for the iPad. Then Apple hired them to supply OLED screens for the new iPhones for 2020. But the first set of panels failed Apple's rigorous quality control tests.