There are three possible reasons why Huawei is involved in the panel field and is rumored to cooperate with BOE on OLED

It seems that some models of the next generation iPhone will be equipped with OLED screens. Recently, Korean media broke the news that Apple and Samsung may have signed an OLED panel order agreement worth up to 2.6 billion US dollars. It is said that Apple is expected to order 75 million OLED screens from Samsung Display, accounting for 14% of OLED screen production. Samsung Electronics will receive 56% of the screens, and OPPO and vivo will guarantee 13% and 10% of the OLED screen share respectively. Samsung and Apple have not commented on this.

If the news is true, Samsung, Apple, OPPO, and vivo account for 93% of the market, and the rest are already quite limited. It is worth noting that the brands mentioned in the above revelations do not include Huawei, which was in court with Samsung in 2016 and is currently the "leader" in the Chinese mobile phone market.

However, there have been rumors recently that the "OLED screens jointly developed by Huawei and domestic panel manufacturer BOE have been successfully mass-produced", but Huawei and BOE have not officially disclosed the relevant information. However, in Ding Technology's view, Huawei is not without the motivation and possibility to get involved in the panel field:

Direct motivation: Solving the problem of mobile phone display panel supply

Although it is still immature in large-size applications, small-size OLED screens have become standard for many flagship phones. According to Ding Technology, its advantages are as follows:

1. The material is light and thin, and the touch sensitivity is higher;

2. Bright colors and high contrast ensure good viewing effect;

3. Self-luminous material, relatively lower power consumption in general use, thus ensuring relatively better battery life;

4. It has good ductility and can be made into a curved surface, or even develop into "foldable", thus bringing more space for product design.

In addition, Ding Technology believes that the use of OLED screens at this stage has two functions: one is to raise the product tone (mainly used in mid-to-high-end products), and the other is to differentiate itself from friendly competitors.

As a company that places high-end product strategy at a relatively high position, Huawei followed up with the curved OLED screen design in 2016. Under the current competitive situation in the mobile phone market, in order not to be "overtaken" by competitors, it is almost an inevitable choice to continue to use OLED screens in products.

However, data shows that in Q3 2016, Samsung controlled 93.7% of the global flexible OLED panel market share, and its small and medium-sized panel market share was as high as 31.8%, surpassing the combined value of 28.5% of the second-ranked JDI and the third-ranked LGD. In this situation, technology-driven Huawei may directly get involved in the panel field, because Ding Technology believes that in addition to solving the current problems, it has a bigger layout.

Deep motivation: Building a closed-loop industrial chain to expand competitiveness

Huawei no longer talks about "surpassing Samsung and Apple within five years", which reflects its pragmatic style. However, this does not mean that the competition between Huawei, Samsung and Apple has disappeared. The competition between Huawei, Samsung and Apple is not simply a "price war" commonly used in the domestic market, but a competition of technical strength and control over the supply chain.

According to Ding Technology's observation, Huawei, Samsung and Apple have all gained control over chips, which are key to smartphones, and Apple's relative advantage lies in the software and system levels; at the same time, although Apple has not formed its own closed industrial chain loop, it has considerable control over the upstream and downstream, the most obvious of which is its bargaining power with suppliers; Samsung has basically built a complete closed industrial chain loop of its own in the mobile phone field.

Ding Technology believes that the key to Huawei's mobile phone competitiveness lies in better control of the supply chain. At the beginning of this year, there were reports that Huawei had reduced the supply chain's first quarter shipments from the original 38 million units to 35 million units. At the time, industry insiders pointed out that this might be related to the tight supply chain capacity. In 2015, there were reports that OPPO might reduce its production capacity due to the tight supply of Samsung AMOLED screens.

Earlier, there were also reports that Huawei, OPPO and vivo, influenced by Apple's order of OLED panels from Samsung, formed an alliance to push other OLED screen suppliers to increase production capacity, which is actually to enhance the control over the industrial chain. However, for technology-driven Huawei, independent research and development and self-built industrial chain closed loop may be a better choice.

Possible motivation: Preparing to enter the TV market and trying new growth points

In addition to the mobile phone business, Huawei may have other considerations.

Ding Technology noticed that at the end of last year, a question and answer session between a user and "Huawei Terminal" attracted considerable attention. When answering the question "Are there any Huawei TVs for sale?", "Huawei Terminal" said "Not at the moment", but "we are looking forward to seeing Huawei TVs one day in the future."

Previously, there have been rumors that Huawei is going to make TVs. Huawei has high expectations for its consumer business, has made plans for TV boxes, and has a good foundation in manufacturing, R&D, and quality control. It is possible that Huawei will get involved in TV terminals. Getting involved in the panel business may be an opportunity for Huawei to further enter the TV market.

In addition, in addition to its original business, Huawei may also try to gain new growth points through technology exports. After Huawei developed its own chips, there was a view that Huawei would export its related technologies. However, as a sign of Huawei's mobile phone entering the high-end market, Huawei should not supply it to the outside world in the short term, but the panels that are not clearly labeled are different.

Finally, the question left is whether BOE will cooperate with Huawei on OLED panels. Recently, it was reported that Apple has secretly negotiated OLED cooperation with six Chinese companies, including BOE, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Tianma Microelectronics, Hehui Optoelectronics, Kunshan Guoxian and Royole Technology. Apple has been testing BOE's AMOLED screens for several months and may consider adding BOE to its supplier list next year.

Nevertheless, in the view of Ding Technology, this does not affect the cooperation between BOE and Huawei. At the end of last year, there was news that BOE's two OLED production lines in Sichuan were basically established to meet the supporting needs of future customers Lenovo and Huawei.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.