Samsung says it has seen ‘slow demand’ for the OLED panels it supplies for the iPhone X

Chance Miller | Apr 25 2018 - 7:55 pm PT

Over the recent week, we’ve seen a handful of suppliers report slowing demand for parts purchased by Apple for the iPhone X. Now, Samsung is joining that chorus, saying that it has seen lagging demand for OLED panels used in the iPhone X…

As noted by Bloomberg, Samsung’s earnings report today highlighted that profits for its display sector were drawn down by slow demand for the flexible OLED panels used in the iPhone X. Samsung’s display business grew by 3.4 percent in the last quarter, which is much lower than the 20 percent Samsung grew as a whole.

Samsung explained in its earnings report that the display business was “affected by slow demand for flexible OLED panels.” Furthermore, the company wrote that increasing profits in divisions other than its memory business “will be a challenge” due to the flexible display market and increased competition all around.

The South Korean electronics manufacturer said in an earnings report today that profits for its display business “were affected by slow demand for flexible OLED panels.” The division’s sales rose 3.4 percent in the latest quarter, compared with 20 percent for Samsung as a whole.

Apple has been riding a wave of bad news recently. Last week, A-series chip supplier TSMC offered weak guidance for the second quarter due to “softening” demand in the premium smartphone market. Furthermore, several reports have claimed that iPhone X demand has been lower than Apple had expected.

A separate report suggested that Apple will be forced to stick with Samsung as a sole OLED supplier for 2018 iPhones. Reports had originally indicated that LG would come on board as a supplier, but the company is reportedly facing manufacturing problems, leaving Apple to decide whether or not LG should be a second supplier. Relying solely on Samsung would prevent Apple from being able to get lower prices on its OLED panels.

Apple is set to report its earnings on May 1st, which should offer us a closer look at how numbers compare to previous quarters, though the company won’t break out specific by-model iPhone sales figures.

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