iPhone 14 models to feature different grades of OLED panels

Tech giant Apple is planning to use different OLED panel grades for the upcoming iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, media report says. According to TheElec, Samsung Display will be applying different grades of materials on the OLED panels it will manufacture for the upcoming iPhone 14 series depending on the model tiers.

It will use its latest and most advanced material set for the higher tier iPhone 14 models, while it will use its prior generation set for the lower tier ones. The move is being made to save costs.

Samsung Display will be supplying OLED panels for all four models of the iPhone 14 series; rival LG Display will be supplying for two models, citing sources, the report said.

An OLED material set comprises dopant, host, prime and others used to form the red, green and blue pixels. Samsung Display calls its material sets used on Samsung's Galaxy and Apple's iPhones the M series.

The South Korean display maker used its LT sets in 2017 for Apple's first OLED iPhone, the iPhone X and in 2018 iPhone XS. But starting in 2019 it began using its M series for panels supplied for Galaxy smartphones and iPhones.

Samsung Display will use its M11 material set for the standard 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch models in the iPhone 14 series.

These phones will have low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT) OLED panels, which are less advanced than the low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) TFT OLED panels used in the higher-tier models.

The two higher-tier models in the iPhone 14 series will use Samsung Display's M12 material set. This same OLED material set is being used for the OLED panels on Samsung's upcoming foldable phones Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4.