BOE is supplying on-cell organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel __ in which the touch sensor is embedded within the panel __ to Huawei for the first time, people familiar with the matter told TheElec on Monday.
The success in winning the order shows that the Chinese display giant is narrowing its technological gap with South Korean firms Samsung Display and LG Display in OLED panels, the people said.
BOE’s panels will be for the Mate 40 series launching sometime between September to October. Two versions of the smartphone __ a standard and a pro model __ is expected.
On-cell OLED panels have a touch electrode on top of the thin film encapsulation layer within the panel. This allows the panels to be thinner and cheaper compared to the previous add-on OLED panels where a touch film was attached on top of the panel.
Samsung Display, the market leader in small-sized OLED panels, was the first to commercialize this technology __ it is called Octa for rigid OLED panels and Y-Octa for flexible OLED panels.
BOE is the exclusive vendor for the on-cell OLED panels for the standard Mate 40. It is co-supplying them with Samsung Display and LG Display for the Mate 40 Pro.
BOE attempted to supply the panels to Huawei for the P40 series in the first half of the year but failed to clinch the order. Instead, it supplied add-on OLED panels for the P40 Pro series, which Huawei used both add-on and on-cell OLED panels. Samsung Display and LG Display supplied the on-cell OLED panels.
Samsung Display supplied the on-cell OLED panels for P40 Pro Plus while BOE supplied its add-on OLED panels for the standard P40 model.
Huawei will likely use on-cell OLED panels for all its flagship smartphones going forward.
BOE is the only Chinese display maker to succeeding in clinching a supplying deal for on-cell OLED panels by the Chinese smartphone giant. Compatriots CSOT and Visionox are producing on-OLED panels as well but have not succeeded in winning an order from Huawei for them.
BOE will also get an edge up with the Huawei deal in possibly supplying its OLED panels to Apple for the iPhone series. The Chinese display giant failed to clinch this year’s order from Cupertino but is expected to continue its bid to win an order.
