Apple establishes display research labs in 4 Chinese cities

Apple has reportedly established display research labs in four big Chinese cities, Beijing, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Shanghai in a bid to diversify its supply chain and cut costs.  

This initiative is being seen as a significant investment in China’s display ecosystem, with contributions from leading Chinese display panel firms such as BOE and equipment and material-related firms, according to a report by BusinessKorea.

The application of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) has expanded beyond smartphones and now includes tablets and laptops. Apple is seeking to diversify its supply chain, which has so far been reliant on South Korean firms.

The research labs are located in major cities along the Chinese east coast. Apple has invested around 2 billion yuan in the Shenzhen research lab alone, the report says. 

Chinese companies overtook the Korean industry in global OLED panel shipments for the first time in the first quarter of this year. 

Apple may apply foldable panels to smartphones by 2026, and some Chinese firms that are part of this research make folding test equipment to test the durability of foldable and rollable displays, the BusinessKorea report says.

“There is a technological gap in the foldable sector, but technology alone is not the only important factor in business, so there is room for China to catch up,” Moon Dae-gyu, a professor of display and advanced materials engineering at Soonchunhyang University, told BusinessKorea. “As Apple and the Chinese industry exchange feedback and share goals closely, the speed of technological development is expected to significantly improve.”