Samsung May Use BOE Display on Galaxy S27 to Save $5

Samsung may actually be considering using Chinese displays on the Galaxy S27 series. The company has reportedly sent a Request for Information (RFI) to BOE and is currently evaluating samples from the Chinese firm. This came after BOE proposed supplying OLED panels for the base Galaxy S27 at a price roughly $5 lower per panel than Samsung Display.

Galaxy S27 may feature a Chinese display if BOE has its way

BOE already supplies displays for some budget and mid-range Galaxy phones. The company has also been trying to enter Samsung’s flagship smartphone supply chain, but it hasn’t succeeded yet. That could change next year, though. According to the Korean media, Samsung appears to be taking BOE’s offer for the Galaxy S27 seriously.

A $5 difference may not seem huge at first, but at Samsung’s shipment scale, even a small price cut could translate into tens of millions of dollars in savings. As such, the Korean firm would be tempted to go with BOE, unless its sister firm Samsung Display matches the Chinese company’s offer. Or at the very least, it offers a discount to Samsung’s smartphone unit.

“Since the standard OLED specifications of the Galaxy S series have been similar in recent years, it should not be difficult for BOE to meet the standard OLED requirements for the Galaxy S27,” an industry official said (machine-translated from Korean). It looks like only Samsung Display can stop the Chinese firm from breaking into the Galaxy S lineup next year.

If BOE succeeds in entering Samsung’s flagship OLED supply chain, the impact could be significant internally. Samsung’s mobile division would benefit from lower component costs, potentially improving profit margins on Galaxy phones. However, Samsung Display could face direct pricing pressure from a Chinese rival that is rapidly improving its OLED technology and manufacturing scale.