Apple likely won’t be able to sell iPhones with BOE displays in the US due to a preliminary ruling by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that the Chinese display maker infringed on Samsung Display’s trade secrets on OLED panels.
The ITC ruling includes two orders – a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order. The first prevents Apple from importing infringing iPhones into the US. The latter prohibits Apple from using existing inventory and further production or sales activities.
This hasn’t come into effect yet – the import ban is expected to kick in with the final ruling in November. ETNews, which has been following the suit, reports that preliminary rulings are rarely overturned. After November, there is a two-month period during which President Trump will be able to veto the final ruling.
Apple sources components from multiple manufacturers, e.g. iPhone displays are made by Samsung, LG and BOE. BOE typically makes the non-ProMotion displays on vanilla phones – in fact, it supplied the majority of iPhone 16e displays.
However, @Jukanlosreve recently reported that Apple has approved BOE display panels for iPhone 17 Pro phones that will be exclusively sold in China. Of course, ITC’s ban has no influence on sales in China, but it may have affected how Apple distributes production quotas between its display suppliers. Also, the future iPhone Fold is safe, since it will use Samsung Display panels.
Besides the ITC suit, Samsung Display filed a suit with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas seeking compensation for lost operating profit plus punitive damages over BOE’s infringement.
Source (in Korean)
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