Challenging Samsung's exclusive supply! BOE seeks a ticket into the iPad Air OLED panel market.

According to The Elec, BOE is actively seeking to enter Apple's iPad Air OLED panel supply chain, aiming to become the second supplier for the product after Samsung Display.

Currently, BOE has initiated development work on OLED panels for the next-generation iPad Air, with related R&D being conducted at its B12 sixth-generation OLED production line in Chongqing.

Apple has selected Samsung Display as the main supplier for iPad Air OLED panels, with mass production expected to begin by the end of this year or early next year. BOE is striving to secure secondary supplier qualification but has not yet entered the mass production certification stage.

Per the standard process, BOE will first submit samples to Apple for evaluation before proceeding to subsequent certification steps. Apple is expected to decide whether to formally adopt BOE's panels around the end of this year, with initial orders potentially limited to models for the Chinese market or refurbished devices.

Industry insiders expect that whether BOE can pass mass production certification will be revealed in November or December this year. Apple typically approves supplier production one to two months before mass production begins; if BOE fails to pass certification, Samsung Display will likely be the sole supplier for the first batch of iPad Air OLED panels.

BOE has previously entered Apple's iPhone OLED supply chain, but in the IT OLED market for products like iPads, Korean manufacturers such as Samsung Display and LG Display have long held a leading position.

The new iPad Air will come in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, expected to feature hybrid OLED panels using glass substrates with thin-film encapsulation (TFE), possibly employing a single-stack RGB light-emitting structure, with low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) technology for the TFT backplane, supporting a 60Hz refresh rate.

Apple has chosen the lower-cost single-stack OLED and LTPS solution for the iPad Air, differentiating it from the higher-positioned iPad Pro while retaining OLED display quality. As OLED technology further cascades down from the iPad Pro to the iPad Air, the tablet OLED market is expected to continue expanding.

Industry insiders point out that BOE is developing OLED panels to enter the iPad Air supply chain, and whether it ultimately secures orders and the supply volume will depend on Apple's evaluation and mass production certification results.