There is no going back to Samsung foundry for Apple(?)

[soAsian]

Apple and Samsung Display cancel 10.86-inch OLED iPad development

Apple and Samsung Display have canceled their joint project to develop a 10.86-inch OLED iPad, TheElec has learned.The tablet was originally slated to launch in 2022 and would have been Cupertino’s first iPad to sport an OLED panel.The project was stopped due to either the single stack structure of

www.thelec.net

maybe this is nothing but i find it interesting that they canceled the OLED ipad development. am i wrong to think Apple/Samsung relationship will continue to dive? it seem like their relationship have been nose dive ever since both companies fling lawsuit at each others.

 

[VCT]

Apple is gradually transferring to mini LED.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

If you look at the past iPhone teardowns you will see Samsung products in the BOM. Certainly not the SoC (since the iPhone 6+) which is excusive to TSMC but memory and display. Here is the iPhone 13 Pro teardown. I have one and it is great as compared to the 10. No Samsung products shown this time. Memory is Hynix, not sure about display but Samsung is a leader in OLED.

iPhone 13 Pro Teardown

The iPhone 13 might look like an incremental update from the outside, but we’ve got a feeling there’s more lurking beneath the surface. We took a...

www.ifixit.com

Bottom line: Apple learned a very expensive lesson in working with an IDM Fab. Samsung smart phones still rival Apple and that is significant market share lost, absolutely.

 

[benb]

Node transitions (10nm A10 chip) or OLED panel transition to Micro LED are driven by performance or price. This is a very rational industry, engineers make decisions on the basis of specs.

It is sufficient to say, Samsung OLEDs lost out on price and performance, compared to micro LEDs, and Samsung 10nm node lost out on price and performance. There is no evidence for additional explanatory factors, such as, let’s call it “Non-IDM Foundry preference”. I don’t think this preference exists.

This is one of those things. Sure it could exist, and sure Samsung lost in both case, but it doesn’t follow from that that the best foundry is a non-IDM foundry. In fact, I would say, be careful about conclusions you draw from comparing just 2 of anything. That‘s too small of a sample size.

 

[Paul2]

Node transitions (10nm A10 chip) or OLED panel transition to Micro LED are driven by performance or price. This is a very rational industry, engineers make decisions on the basis of specs.

It is sufficient to say, Samsung OLEDs lost out on price and performance, compared to micro LEDs, and Samsung 10nm node lost out on price and performance. There is no evidence for additional explanatory factors, such as, let’s call it “Non-IDM Foundry preference”. I don’t think this preference exists.

This is one of those things. Sure it could exist, and sure Samsung lost in both case, but it doesn’t follow from that that the best foundry is a non-IDM foundry. In fact, I would say, be careful about conclusions you draw from comparing just 2 of anything. That‘s too small of a sample size.

I know Apple engineering culture, as a number of my former coworkers went to work there at different times.

Apple is a very conservative company when it comes to engineering

Everybody hired to work there is a hipster by default, but engineering, which even enforces dress code, and kicks people out mercilessly for 3 disciplinary actions in a row (like being late by few minutes.) And yes, the famous patdown search on exiting the office.

 

[peter]

Apple is gradually transferring to mini LED.

Which is worse than OLED in almost every way. Only advantage mini LEDs offer might be higher brightness.

Micro LEDs on the other hand can conceivably be better than OLEDs, if costs and yields can be optimized to make it competitive. But again, who can make it in the volume that Apple demands? Not going to happen anytime soon on iPads. Can't even imagine it happening within the next 5 years for the iPhone.

Not sure what the title of this thread has anything to do with the linked news article. It states right there that they couldn't narrow their differences, Apple wanted double stack tandem structure, Samsung hasn't applied that and either wasn't confident or the cost quoted was too high. Is someone else going to provide something better? No, LG can't do it, BOE can't do it, so Apple will just put it off another cycle, no big deal.

As for the ifixit teardown, could just be luck of the draw. It's not like Apple single sources DRAM and NAND, neither does Samsung or any other cell phone manufacturer, and who cares about past shenanigans, you go with the supplier that can provide the right mix of specs/performance at the right price in consistent volume, Apple's not going to avoid Samsung's components if they're better and cheaper. Over 70% of OLEDs for iPhone 13 will be supplied by Samsung, the rest by LG, enough said.