A few days ago we reported that the four largest smartphone makers in China (Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi) have all confirmed plans to adopt LGD's flexible OLEDs starting in 2018. A new report from Business Korea now suggests that Huawei and LGD are set to sign a strategic long-term OLED supply agreement.
According to the report Huawei is the largest customer for mobile OLED displays in China, and the company wants to sign a long-term supply contract with LGD. The agreement will call for a relatively small (tens of thousands, it seems) supply of OLEDs in 2018, so most of Huawei's OLEDs orders in 2018 will remain with Samsung Display as is the situation today. Huawei's upcoming Mate 10 flagship phone will adopt SDC's glass-based AMOLEDs.
LGD is reportedly still struggling with yield and quality issues at its new E5 flexible OLED line - and the company even had to cancel a 3-million flexible OLED supply deal to Xiaomi. So this was probably not an easy decision to make for Huawei - but as SDC cannot meet the demand of smartphone makers (it cannot satisfy Apple's needs, too) smartphone makers that want to adopt OLEDs has no choice but to rely on LGD or other OLED makers, at least until SDC can expand its capacity enough.
