All four iPhone 15 OLED screens will use latest materials, not just Pro models

A new supply chain report says that all four iPhone 15 OLED screens will use the latest generation of materials. For the iPhone 14, only the Pro models received the latest-gen Samsung tech, while the base models got the previous generation.

It’s important to stress that the report concerns the core materials used in the creation of the iPhone 15 OLED panels, with two features still expected to be reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max …

Background

For the iPhone 14 lineup, there was a number of differences in the screens. The most visible of these was, of course, the Dynamic Island of the Pro models versus the notch in the base and Plus models.

Also very visible, at least when the phones were switched off, was the variable refresh rate. Branded as ProMotion by Apple, this allows the refresh rate to be set as high as 120Hz (updating twice a second) and as low as 1Hz. This latter setting is what allows for the always-on display: The very low refresh rate means that the screen can stay on without significantly impacting battery life.

But there’s another difference between them, and that relates to the sophistication of the materials used to construct the displays. The base and Plus model iPhone 14 are made using Samsung’s 11th-gen material set, while the two Pro models have the 12th-gen – known as M11 and M12 respectively.

All iPhone 15 OLED screens to use M12 materials

The Elec reports that that will change this year, with all four iPhone 15 OLED screens using the latest M12 material set. Samsung will also use the same tech for the latest Galaxy Fold.

According to the industry on the 10th, it was found that Samsung Display will expand the organic light emitting diode (OLED) material set M12 to all four Apple iPhone 15 series scheduled to be released in the second half of the year. Last year, the top two of the iPhone 14 series applied the M12, which was a new material set at the time, and the two sub-series applied the M11, which was the existing material set. This year’s iPhone top-up material set is the same as last year, and the sub-up material set is likely to be upgraded.

The OLED material set refers to the OLED material composition that panel companies apply to smartphones. The OLED material set consists of a light-emitting layer and a common layer such as red (R), green (G), and blue (B) individualization, such as dopant (emitting body), host (lighting layer), and prime (adjury layer).

Only the Pro models, however, will use low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) thin-film transistors (TFTs), and it is this that allows the variable refresh rate which enables the always-on feature.

Next year, Apple is expected to skip a generation. While Samsung will make a new M13 generation for other smartphone makers, the iPhone 16 is expected to get a more advanced M14 set.

Samsung still expected to make most initial displays

Apple had planned to bring BOE on board for some of the iPhone 15 displays, but a report last month said that the company was still having problems with light leakage around the slicker Dynamic Island – and Apple was dropping the supplier for the initial production run.

Samsung was said to be picking up the slack, and today’s report says that’s still the case.

Image: Daniel Olah/Unsplash