אתר: MacRumors | חדשות האינטרנט

BOE's Cracking Glass Problem Threatens OLED iPad Supply Plans‎

Repeated glass breakages at BOE's new OLED factory have persisted for roughly six months, potentially hindering its attempt to win iPad display orders from Apple, The Elec reports. The Chinese display maker apparently only recently begun Apple's panel qualification process. According to the report, the manufacturing difficulties could either postpone orders or prevent BOE from securing them. A broken sheet of glass can leave production equipment unavailable for between half a day and a full day as workers remove fragments and check the machinery. That makes the issue disruptive even when most substrates pass through the line without breaking. Sources cited by the publication warned that two or three breakages among 1,000 substrates could still interfere with mass production. The impact extends beyond the loss of the damaged sheet, because other production cannot proceed through the affected equipment during recovery. Sources said these incidents need to be almost entirely eliminated for continuous operation. The affected facility is B16 in Chengdu, which houses BOE's 8.6-generation ‌OLED‌ production line. BOE continues to operate two lines there, but has yet to identify what causes the glass to fail. Earlier reports linked BOE's iPad Air plans to its separate B12 facility in Chongqing, while B16 was associated with its effort to supply ‌OLED‌ MacBook Pro panels. The report from August anticipated the launch of new iPad Air models featuring ‌OLED‌ displays in the first half of 2027, with Samsung Display as the primary panel supplier. BOE's previous work for Apple has also been interrupted by manufacturing and approval problems. In 2022, Apple reportedly halted production of BOE's iPhone 13 displays after discovering unauthorized changes to their design. Reports in 2023 described light leakage around the Dynamic Island cutouts that constrained supply of iPhone 15 panels. In January, a report said Apple had shifted millions of ‌OLED‌ panel orders for the iPhone to Samsung Display after BOE again encountered production difficulties.Tags: BOE, OLEDThis article, "BOE's Cracking Glass Problem Threatens OLED iPad Supply Plans" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums

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iPhone Takes Bigger Slice of a Shrinking Smartphone Market‎

Apple's share of worldwide smartphone shipments rose to a third-quarter record of 22% in the third quarter of 2026, despite a decline in its own iPhone shipments, according to preliminary figures from Counterpoint Research. Apple finished the quarter just behind Samsung, which accounted for 23% of shipments. Across the industry, manufacturers shipped 20% fewer smartphones than a year earlier, taking the July-to-September total to its lowest level since 2012. Apple's launch plan was a significant factor in its lower shipment volume this year. With no standard iPhone 18 arriving alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in September, Counterpoint said Apple supplied fewer new devices to retail channels than during last year's iPhone 17 lineup launch. The research firm nevertheless reported a better debut for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models than for the previous Pro generation, with sales in China and India standing out. Demand for the ‌iPhone 17‌ also continued to support shipments. Apple also outperformed the wider market in China. Separate IDC figures reported by Reuters put Apple's shipment decline at 4.3%, compared with a 15.4% contraction for the country as a whole. China's total of 57.9 million units marked its sixth consecutive quarter of annual declines. Apple took second place in China with a 17.8% share, behind Huawei at 21%. IDC said Apple's newly released iPhones exceeded sales expectations, although the smaller selection of new models reduced its overall shipments. Counterpoint linked the global downturn to shortages and rising prices for memory chips, which have made phones more expensive to produce. It estimates that smartphone retail prices have risen 20% globally so far this year, with demand for premium smartphones proving to be more resilient than budget devices.Tag: CounterpointThis article, "iPhone Takes Bigger Slice of a Shrinking Smartphone Market" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums

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