iPhone 12 Max News: LG Tapped To Supply 20 Million OLED Panels

Apple has tapped LG Display to supply it with the OLED panels it needs for millions of iPhone 12 Max units.

By now, Apple fans will know that there are four models included in the iPhone 12 lineup. Two of these will be “Pro” models, while the other two will be non-Pro iPhone models. The main difference between each of the Pro and non-Pro models will be their display sizes.

One of the non-Pro iPhones, the larger iPhone 12 Max, will reportedly use OLED panels sourced from LG Display. This information comes by way of a report from Korean tech site The Elec, which revealed that according to industry sources, LG Display will be supply Apple with up to 20 million OLED panels for use on the said device.

Apple Insider noted that The Elec has a “reasonable” track record for predicting the volumes of supplies that suppliers provide to Apple.

The Elec said Apple is sourcing display panels from both Samsung and LG for this year's flagship lineup. Samsung will be supplying Cupertino with approximately 55 million panels for use on the 5.4-inch iPhone 12, 6.1-inch iPhone Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone Pro Max. LG Display, on the other hand, will work on supplying Apple with 6.1-inch display panels for the iPhone 12 Max.

Not the first time

This is not the first time that an LG-made display will be used on an iPhone. Apple Insider reported that in 2019, Apple also sourced OLED displays from the Korean tech company. These displays were primarily used on older iPhone models. They also served as replacement screens for those who needed servicing.

Apple, however, only placed small-scale orders from LG Display at the time. The display company had problems with producing its initial batch of iPhone displays last year. It eventually announced its plans to invest a huge amount of money – $2.6 billion – to an existing iPhone display production facility in South Korea.

This year's orders for OLED display panels for use on the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Max will serve as a test showing whether LG Display will be capable of taking more orders from the Cupertino tech giant or not. It will be shipping four times more displays than it did last year.