SEOUL -- Apple's plan to switch from conventional liquid crystal display, or LCD, screens on its iPhone series to more advanced organic light emitting diode, or OLED, panels for its next generation iPhone models to be introduced next year appears to represent a bonanza for Samsung Display, which is the world's biggest producer of OLED mobile phone panels, with a market share of more than 90%. The unit of the South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics has been supplying them for Samsung smartphones as well as to other phone makers since 2010.
But Apple's move also represents an opportunity as well as a vindication for LG Display, which has become the world's largest producer of large OLED TVs and has been seeking to enter the market for small OLED panels in a major way. LG Display, the South Korean rival to Samsung Display, knew that Apple, with its emphasis on finding dual suppliers to ensure both production security and cost competitiveness, would be the means to achieve that goal.
