If 250 million to 270 million digital panels are accurate and really all go into production of the iPhone in 2018, I believe that this year will surely become a record year for iPhone shipments, because according to Apple’s official financial figures, the whole iPhone sales were 216.8 million units in the 2017 fiscal year, compared with 231.2 million units in the more brilliant 2015 year.
However, digitimes, which originated from sources related to the display panel industry in Taiwan, did not indicate the approximate time that the display panel was delivered to Apple. Therefore, such a large number is likely to be based on current demand and past order estimates. It is not from Apple's internally confirmed orders, and the order number may change at any time. In addition, taking into account the capacity and yield issues, together with the preparation of inventory, the number of finished products that may eventually be used will be lower than the number of panels actually ordered. .
Interestingly, the digitimes report also provided interesting information, claiming that from the point of view of this display screen, it was confirmed that the 2018 iPhone with OLED screen will account for a very large proportion, and its predetermined number of panels will reach 110 million to 1.3. Billion. Among them, there are 5.8-inch OLED screens between 70 million and 80 million for the cash iPhone X and an upgraded version of the same screen size. The remaining 40 to 50 million panels are for the 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus. 'And the 'cheaper version'.
In addition to the OLED display panel, Apple's order quantity for the traditional LTPS LCD panel is not small, the total volume in 2018 is 60 million to 70 million, mainly used for 4 inch, 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch iPhone SE, iPhone 8 And other cash products.
Previously, the report from IHS Markit showed that Samsung's Samsung Display is still Apple's leading OLED panel supplier this year. However, LG Display is expected to become Apple’s second-largest OLED panel supplier in the second half of 2018 to ensure that the rumors are fresh in the middle of autumn. The 6.5-inch 'iPhone X Plus' has enough panel supply. However, it has been reported that before 2019, LG Display's OLED panel production capacity could hardly meet Apple's demand.
As for the LTPS LCD panel, there are reports that Japan Display, Sharp and LG Display will be the main suppliers of Apple in 2018.