Taiwan media reports pointed out that since Apple launched the iPhone with OLED panel, although the screen resolution has been well received by the market, since most of the OLED screens of the iPhone are supplied by Samsung, Apple has little room for bargaining and the high cost of parts The price has affected the gross profit margin of the iPhone. Apple hopes to change this passive situation.
As we all know, in order to avoid over-reliance on a certain supplier, some companies will not "put eggs in the same basket", and Apple is no exception.
Apple begins to "de-Samsung"
It is understood that for each component that Apple needs to purchase, the supplier maintains at least two or more. Therefore, with LG Display (LGD) and BOE gradually opening up OLED production capacity, Apple is expected to reduce its dependence on Samsung panels in the future, and gradually achieve the "de-Samsung" strategy.
Industry insiders pointed out that the most important purpose behind the cooperation between Qualcomm and BOE's fingerprint technology under ultrasound screen is to obtain Apple orders. For Apple, the more OLED suppliers there are, the higher its bargaining power in OLED is, and the greater the possibility of reducing iPhone manufacturing costs.
Samsung has always been the world's largest OLED supplier, but Samsung itself also has S series of high-end models using OLED, and Apple is a competitor in the brand market, which makes Apple feel threatened.
Despite the high threshold of OLED mass production technology, LGD and BOE have been exploring for several years, and the results are gradually showing. With Apple ’s upcoming 5G iPhone, the market demand is expected to be greater than before. It is LGD and BOE that are grabbing Samsung orders Opportunity.
Industry insiders pointed out that when Samsung exclusively supplied Apple OLEDs in the past, it will also cover orders for large and small components such as panel bonding, modules, connectors, etc., resulting in no opportunity for other suppliers to cut in. And if BOE can pass the OLED picture this time, maybe other suppliers can also take advantage of the opportunity. And this is the situation that Apple is happy to see.
The highest drop in orders in April is 50%
Foreign media pointed out that Samsung's mobile phone output will be reduced by more than 50% in April. It is expected that only 5 million mobile phones will be produced in April, and it will be difficult to recover in the next few months.
However, at the same time as Samsung, a "big customer" of many electronic components, the mobile phone production reduction plan is bound to have a significant impact on its supply chain, and some semiconductors, display screens, camera modules, circuit boards and other manufacturers are "stricken."
According to industry sources, orders for Samsung ’s smart phone parts have been significantly reduced since April, but different parts have different degrees of impact. Compared with March, the minimum order reduction in April was 20% to 30%, and the highest was 50%.
Some component manufacturers also stated that "all Samsung mobile phone model parts orders from high-end to low-end models have begun to decrease, and it is expected that this quarter's performance will be quite poor."
In the recent period, smartphone component manufacturers have begun to respond to the challenges brought by the epidemic, such as the reduction of factory employees and salary reduction. It is reported that the domestic mobile phone supply chain has also fallen into a "single order wave", including Huami OV, which has a 20% to 30% rate.
