Samsung reportedly expects a bumper 2021 thanks to iPhone OLED demand

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By Oliver Haslam
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What you need to know

  • Apple's strong OLED screen demand is enough to have Samsung expectations for 2021 to skyrocket.

Apple iPhone display supplier Samsung Display has high hopes for 2021 thanks to strong iPhone sales and the fact that Apple's 2020 and 2021 lineups make use of OLED panels. According to a new report, Samsung is hoping to ship around 140 million iPhone displays during 2021.

While both LG Display and BOE are also suppliers of displays for iPhones, Samsung Display is by far the biggest player, and that is shown by the numbers. 140 million screens is a lot, with LG and BOE set to make up the remaining 40 million, according to a new report by The Elec.

Samsung Display is expected to see increased supply of OLED panels for iPhones next year as Apple is expected to ship the highest number of OLED-using iPhones in 2021.Apple is expected to ship between 160 million to 180 million units of iPhones that use OLED panels next year, sources within Samsung Display said.The figure combines the expected shipment for iPhone 13 and iPhone 12.

All of Apple's 2020 iPhones use OLED screens, a first. The same is expected next year, although two of the four iPhones likely to be announced will make use of new technology – making them more difficult to produce. And yes, 120Hz is in the cards.

Two out of the four models launching next year will use low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LPTO) thin-film transistors (TFT). LPTO technology is needed for the screens to reach 120Hz refresh rate. All four models will use on-cell touch screens as well.

Apple is expected to announce its 2021 iPhones in September, rather than the October window that we saw this year.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.