Earlier this year, Samsung Display won a patent infringement lawsuit against the Chinese firm BOE. After it was proven that BOE stole Samsung’s proprietary technologies to develop OLED panels, the US FTC banned BOE and its subsidiaries from shipping OLED panels in the US. However, things could improve soon.
After ending its quarrel with BOE a couple of months ago, Samsung Electronics could buy some mobile OLED panels from the Chinese firm. DealSite claims that BOE Chairman Chen Yanshun visited Samsung Electronics’ office last week and met with executives, including Samsung DX head TM Roh and the boss of Samsung’s TV division, Yong Seok-woo.
During this meeting, it is believed that the executives discussed BOE supplying large quantities (10 million) of LCD panels for Samsung’s TVs and some small-sized OLED panels for Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones.
This isn’t the first time BOE will be supplying OLED panels for Galaxy phones. Earlier, BOE supplied some OLED panels for affordable Galaxy phones. However, due to the patent infringement lawsuit, the relationship between the two companies soured, and they stopped doing business together.
While BOE supplies OLED panels for high-end Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo phones, it does not ship high-end panels to a global premium brand. Samsung’s mobile division is struggling with rising phone component prices. If BOE can supply OLED panels for Galaxy phones at lower prices, it would be a win-win situation for both firms.
