LG Supplying Huawei Porsche Design Mate RS OLED Panels

A report fresh from South Korea is claiming that LG Display is going to supply OLED panels to Huawei for the first time. The panels that the Korean company is supplying to the Chinese firm will reportedly be used for the ultra-premium Mate RS smartphone.

Etnews reported Monday that LG has been tapped by Huawei to provide the latter with OLED panels for its new phone, which is a product of its collaboration with automobile manufacturer Porsche. The Huawei Porsche Design Mate RS will reportedly be equipped with 6-inch flexible OLED panels that bend on the sides for a 2,880 x 1,440 screen resolution.

This is the first time that LG Display is supplying OLED panels to Huawei. Previously, LG’s display-manufacturing unit only supplied OLED panels to its parent company LG Electronics and Chinese phone maker Xiaomi. LG was also late in joining the small and medium OLED market since it focused on manufacturing large OLED panels for TVs before.

What makes LG’s partnership with Huawei special is the fact that the display panel that the former is providing the latter will work hand-in-hand with an in-display fingerprint scanner. LG Display will be responsible for combining the display panel and the fingerprint sensor made by China’s Goodix to form the advanced in-display, fingerprint-reading module of the $1,885 Porsche Design Mate RS.

Given the expensive price of the handset, it is being speculated that LG would only be manufacturing a limited number of OLED panels for the Mate RS. Nevertheless, LG is going to allot special attention to its collaboration with Huawei, knowing that the latter is currently one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers alongside Samsung and Apple.

Samsung Display dominates the OLED market at present by having 95 percent market share. Should LG’s first collaboration with Huawei go well, LG could get more OLED orders from Huawei which would then increase the company’s share in the OLED market, as per The Investor.

LG Display has declined to comment or answer questions pertaining to its contract with Huawei. But an industry source has said, “The supply volume for the Mate RS might be modest due to the high price tag. But LG seems to be taking great care of Huawei considering its No. 3 position in the global market.” Last year, Huawei sold over 150 million smartphones, securing its ranking as the third largest smartphone maker.

What’s quite impressive about Huawei was the fact that it did so well last year though it wasn’t able to sell its products in the U.S. At present, Huawei is looking for ways to bring its devices to the U.S. market. Just last week, it issued a statement saying that it is committed to earning the trust of U.S. consumers by delivering world-class products and innovation.