Samsung Display, BOE, and Tianma are in talks with smartphone vendors including OPPO and vivo to produce budget 720p OLED panels. The project aims to replace traditional LCD panels on entry level handsets as rising component costs squeeze phone profit margins. A report from ZDNet Korea indicates that phone brands want these 720p OLED screens priced near current LCD levels, forcing panel suppliers to consider stripped down material specifications.
Memory price surges have shrunk total smartphone shipments and damaged upstream panel orders. Display manufacturers want to increase factory output by pushing OLED technology into budget price brackets currently dominated by LCD screens. This move would bring self emissive display contrast to cheaper phones, though at a lower resolution than standard 1080p screens.
Phone manufacturers demand that 720p OLED panels match the purchase price of existing 720p LCD units. Using standard OLED chemical materials at that price would cause financial losses for suppliers. Panel makers will downgrade material specifications to hit these low target prices. Samsung Display plans to run these 720p panels on rigid OLED production lines, while BOE and Tianma consider using flexible OLED lines.
