Repeated glass breakages at BOE's new OLED factory have persisted for roughly six months, potentially hindering its attempt to win iPad display orders from Apple, The Elec reports. The Chinese display maker has only recently begun Apple's panel qualification process, and according to the report, the manufacturing difficulties could either postpone orders or prevent BOE from securing them.
A broken sheet of glass can leave production equipment unavailable for between half a day and a full day as workers remove fragments and check the machinery. That makes the issue disruptive even when most substrates pass through the line without breaking. Sources warned that two or three breakages among 1,000 substrates could still interfere with mass production, and that these incidents need to be almost entirely eliminated for continuous operation.
The affected facility is B16 in Chengdu, which houses BOE's 8.6-generation OLED production line. BOE continues to operate two lines there but has yet to identify what causes the glass to fail. Earlier reports linked BOE's iPad Air plans to its separate B12 facility in Chongqing, while B16 was associated with its effort to supply OLED MacBook Pro panels. An August report anticipated new OLED iPad Air models in the first half of 2027, with Samsung Display as the primary panel supplier.
BOE's previous work for Apple has also faced setbacks. In 2022, Apple reportedly halted production of BOE's iPhone 13 displays after discovering unauthorized design changes. In 2023, light leakage around the Dynamic Island cutouts constrained iPhone 15 panel supply. In January, a report said Apple had shifted millions of iPhone OLED panel orders to Samsung Display after BOE again encountered production difficulties.
Source: MacRumors · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing