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Report: Samsung spending $6.82B to increase AMOLED production
June 15, 2025
If there is one single component that has been a mainstay in Samsung’s smartphone stable, it’s arguably the SAMOLED displays used in the company’s higher end devices. Galaxy customers seem to love the organic panels, which are well known for having near infinite contrast levels and bright, vibrant colors. Accordingly, it is no surprise that Samsung itselfcontinues to occupy the lion’s shareof the industry’s productionandprofits. While the OEM’s own phones usually make use of the technology, in recent years this has spread to supply for competitors as well, including most recently,OnePlus’s OnePlus 3.
Looking across the OS aisle, rumors of Apple’s iPhone making use of AMOLED displays continue to persist, with each month or so bringing forth new evidence or details of the grand plan. Currently, it can be concluded that the 2017 iPhone models will indeed have OLED displays, with Samsung supplying most of the stock. A new report from Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review, now specifies that the Korean company will be investing a whopping 8 trillion won (roughly $6.82 billion) in order to meet the production demand for next year’s Apple agreement.
More specifically, the report goes on to say that:
The infusion of capital mentioned in today’s news would “boost capacity by the equivalent of well over 200 million for smartphone panels using organic light-emitting diodes at a subsidiary’s plant” thus the roughly 300 million figure mentioned above would soar to around 500 million by the time next year rolls around.
Additional insight
While Samsung is cited as being the principal producer of panels for Apple’s upcoming iPhone, it is not to be the only one, as reports havepreviously indicated that rival companies, including LG and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), will also be tasked. Thecurrent understanding of the matteris that Samsung will have 60% of production, which translates to 100 million AMOLED panels for Apple each year, beginning Q2 2017, for the next three years.
Today’s report however, which specifies a production boost of over 200 million extra panels per year due to the extra investment, might mean that Samsung’s quota has been increased. This could be due to a number of things, such as quality control guarantees, volume discounts, reliability, or any number of other considerations. It is also possible that the volume itself – as it relates to Apple – will not change, but rather Samsung anticipates being tasked with more production for other OEMs in the coming years.
In today’s report, Nikkei also made reference to competition, noting that
The report also contains a caveat to consider as well:
Whileit has already been argued thatSamsung’s mass production of its precious panels for use in products made and sold by competitors is both a good and bad thing, the idea that increased production may come at a cost to the bottom line eventually is certainly a risk that is relevant.
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