South Korea's LG Display was dropped out of the supply chain for Apple and for the first time in 10 years, it may not be supplying panels for the new iPhone.
Instead, Apple has chosen Samsung Display, since LG Display did not respond fast to the migration from liquid crystal display to organic light-emitting diode (OLED). LG Display is OLED powerhouse in large panels for TVs while Samsung Display is stronger in small OLED panels because it supplies to Samsung Electronics whose premium phones are all OLED screens.
A senior executive of LG Display confirmed on Wednesday that the company failed to win orders from iPhone 8. "We would be without a major client from the second half," he said.
LG Display's screens had been fitted to iPhones since 2010. Apple began to diversify its supply chain from 2011 and invested $1 billion in LCD lines of Sharp.