The iPhone X is Apple's first smartphone with an OLED display. Since Samsung has a near monopoly in the smartphone OLED panel market, Apple had no choice but to source the display panel from its biggest rival. The company stood to gain billions of dollars by supplying Apple with OLED panels for the iPhone X and it has done just that.
Apple may have some leverage in price negotiations with Samsung
Apple, like other companies, like to diversify its supply chain so that it's not completely dependent on one supplier for the components that it needs. LG was previously trying to win orders from Apple as well for OLED displays and now it appears that Samsung might lose out on some iPhone X OLED panel orders from Apple.
Bloomberg reports that LG will soon begin supplying between two and four million units of OLED panels for Apple's iPhone X. The quantity is small relative to the iPhone X sales but it's a step in the right direction for Apple Moreover, LG continues to work on ramping up capacity and may soon be able to supply more panels.
Samsung's monopoly enabled the company to charge Apple as much as it could for the panels. It reportedly makes $110 on every iPhone X and the figure includes the display panel, batteries, chips and capacitors. Having another supplier in the bag will help Apple in price negotiations with Samsung and its leverage will only increase once LG is capable of supplying more panels.
LG's OLED panels will reportedly be used in Apple's second-generation iPhone X which is due later this year.
