Chinese display panel maker, BOE, is not doing badly in the market. According to recent reports, BOE’s flexible OLED panel shipments increased significantly in the first half. The company shipped 16 million flexible OLED panels, a significant increase year-on-year. In fact, its shipments for H1 2020 is almost equal to its shipment for the whole of last year.
BOE’s shipments of flexible OLED panels last year were 17 million. This means that the 16 million units that it has for the first half of this year are only 1 million units short of its entire shipment for last year. This is equivalent to a 94% increase.
For the whole year of this year, BOE’s goal is to ship 40 million flexible OLED panels. This will be an increase of 23 million from last year’s 17 million and a year-on-year increase of 135%.
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As far as BOE’s annual flexible OLED panel shipment target is concerned, its shipment volume in H2 2020 has to hit 24 million to achieve its target. That is, the shipment volume in the second half of the year needs to increase by 50% relative to the first half.
Although BOE’s annual shipment target for this year is more than twice that of last year’s shipments, there are reports that its 40 million target is still much lower than its original target. At the end of 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus, BOE planned to ship more than 70 million flexible OLED panels this year.
BOE will try to win Apple again
There are also reports that BOE will try to make OLED displays for Apple again. In addition, BOE executives revealed that they have a new production line called B11. According to reports, this production line is internally called the “Apple line”. BOE will use this production line to specifically produce OLED screens for Apple’s iPhone 13 in 2021.
The initial production line that BOE uses is its B7 factory in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. This production line has a longer history than B11. The report also mentioned that BOE’s B11 return rate in the first half of 2020 is about 20%, and the overall return rate of B11 has increased to about 20%, but it still lags behind B7.
Although the B7 and B11 are both BOE’s production lines, both will be managed separately in Taiwan and Mainland China. In addition, there are reports that Apple will give LG Display and BOE more opportunities.
