Samsung Display Readies Development Team for Apple Foldable Panels

Apple supplier Samsung Display has reorganized its Apple business team to achieve operational efficiency in the development of foldable panels, claims a new report out of Korea.

According to The Elec, Samsung wants to strengthen its capabilities in anticipation of Apple's first foldable products by integrating the expertise it has gained making Samsung foldable devices since 2019.

Samsung Display and LG Display are said to be already working on projects for Apple's foldable products, including panels with 20.25-inch dimensions, according to the report. It's not clear if the panel size relates to a specific product or a panel production process.

Apple has been known to be working on foldable display technology for some years now, filing multiple patents regarding the technology. Rumors in September 2020 indicated that Samsung was providing foldable display samples to Apple for a future foldable ‌iPhone‌, but there had been no strong indication that Apple was planning to use Samsung's technology until now.

In 2021, Bloomberg claimed that Apple had started "early work" on an ‌iPhone‌ with a foldable display, but that it had not committed to releasing a foldable device at that time. Development in 2021 had not expanded beyond a display, and Apple did not have full foldable ‌iPhone‌ prototypes.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo initially said that Apple would introduce a foldable ‌iPhone‌ in 2024, but in 2022, he revised his prediction and said that Apple is unlikely to unveil a foldable iPhone until 2025 or later. Display analyst Ross Young has also suggested 2025 is the earliest that we might see a foldable ‌iPhone‌.