LGD supplying OLED to Huawei’s Mate 30 series

South Korean display maker LG Display was chosen to supply flexible OLED panels for the flagship smartphone Mate 30 series produced by China’s Huawei Technologies, sources told The Elec on Sept. 14.

The reports come following previous news predicting that Samsung Display would be supplying the Mate 30.

“BOE won’t be supplying the OLED panels,” said an executive at one of China’s leading market research firms on the condition of anonymity.

LG Display had earlier this year vied against the Chinese display maker to supply the panels to the P30 Pro smartphones, also from Huawei. The LG affiliate lost following last-minute quality checks, and was forced to compensate its suppliers for the project billions won.

The Mate 30, which will first be launched in Germany on Sept. 19, will come in the so-called ‘cascade’ display design under which the sides of the phone are curved to up to 90 degrees. This will require highly sophisticated technology for cover glass processing and lamination.

Huawei gets most of the Rigid OLED panels from Samsung Display, but it has been depending mostly on LG and BOE for flexible panels. LG Display will now be supplying Apple as well, with OLED panels for the iPhone in the latter half of this year.

According to market research firm IHS Markit, Samsung Display had an 82% market share in terms of OLED panel shipments for mobile devices in the second quarter of this year. It was followed by BOE with 12% and LG Display with 2%.

In the third quarter, LG is forecast to have a market share of 4%, which is expected to grow to 11% in the fourth quarter.

The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.