Samsung Display Wins Module Production Approval for Apple's Foldable iPhone OLED Panels

Samsung Display has secured Apple's approval to start module production of OLED panels intended for the company's first foldable iPhone, a new report indicates.

Samsung starts back-end production in Vietnam. According to industry sources cited by TheElec, the manufacturer has activated portions of its back-end lines at its Vietnamese facility to meet an initial commitment for approximately three million panels slated for shipment this year. Module production clearance demands that vendors prove consistent final assembly quality along with stable mass output.

Apple's threshold is reportedly a yield rate of at least 70%. Samsung Display is said to have passed that bar after achieving final yields above 80%.

Samsung holds exclusive three-year supply deal. The Korean firm is believed to serve as the sole provider of these foldable OLED panels for the device throughout a three-year pact. During that span Apple will not source comparable panels from competing display manufacturers.

Back-end processing, which adds driver circuits, flexible printed circuit boards and protective layers ahead of final checks and delivery, takes place at the Vietnam plant. The site maintains roughly 80 production lines in total, though only about 50 are active now, preserving ample headroom for the modest three-million-unit commitment.

Panels incorporate CoE technology and M16 materials. The displays are expected to rely on Color Filter on Encapsulation (CoE) technology that eliminates the polarizer by placing a color filter straight atop the encapsulation layer. They will also employ Samsung Display's latest M16 OLED material stack.

The M16 stack is said to bring improvements to brightness, color performance, lifespan, and power efficiency over prior generations.

Foldable iPhone specifications remain in rumor stage. Apple's foldable iPhone is rumored to feature a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover display, along with Touch ID instead of Face ID, an A20 chip, and Apple's C2 modem, with pricing expected to start around $2,000. The device is additionally slated to adopt an in-house C2 cellular modem.