Samsung starts making 120Hz LTPO OLED panels for iPhone 13

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Ever since Apple switched to OLED displays for its high-end iPhones in 2017, Samsung has been the company’s biggest OLED panel supplier. It was rumored last year that Apple might bring 120Hz displays with the iPhone 12 series, but that didn’t happen. It is now being reported that Samsung has already started making 120Hz OLED displays for the iPhone 13 series.

According to a report from TheElec, Samsung Display has started the mass production of OLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate and LTPO technology for the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The displays are being manufactured at the A3 Line inside the Asan plant. LG Display has started making LTPS OLED panels for the affordable iPhone 13 models (iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 13). Samsung Display will produce 80 million OLED panels, while LG Display will manufacture 30 million OLED units.

Since the iPhone 12 and other older iPhones will continue to sell even after the launch of the iPhone 13 series later this year, Samsung will keep supplying OLED panels for those smartphones as well. In total, the South Korean firm will make 120 million OLED units for Apple this year. In comparison, LG Display will ship 50 million OLED panels for iPhones. BOE, the Chinese display maker, will play a small part by making 9 million OLED panels for Apple.

BOE, LG Display, and Samsung Display started producing OLED panels for upcoming iPhones one month earlier than last year, which means that the iPhone 13 could launch sooner than its predecessor did last year.

While all the smartphone brands switched to 120Hz displays last year, Apple appears to be 2-3 years late to the party. And that’s because the iPhone maker uses smaller capacity batteries than Android smartphones, and 120Hz displays consume more battery. Samsung’s LTPO OLED panels should offer better power efficiency, though, thanks to a variable refresh rate that can switch from as low as 10Hz to 120Hz.