iPhone 13 variants with 120 Hz ProMotion display

Samsung Display will supply Apple with 160 to 180 million OLED panels for iPhones next year, according to a new Korean report. The panels are used in both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series.

The figure of 180 million is significantly higher than the 100 million OLED panels Samsung is expected to deliver to Apple this year. Samsung expects Apple to use at least 140 million OLED panels it supplied for its 2021 iPhone 13 line of products. According to the report, LG Display will supply OLED panels for around 30 million iPhones, while BOE will supply around 10 million devices. For this year, LG Display has provided Apple with 20 million OLED devices. The aim is to double this number to 40 million devices by 2021.

The report also points out that Apple will use "more sophisticated" OLED panels, with two of the four iPhone 13 models using 120Hz LTPO displays. It is likely that Apple will use 120Hz ProMotion OLED panels on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. In this way, the company can better distinguish its Pro models from the non-pro variants. Apple will also use touchscreens on its phone on all four iPhone 13 models. Samsung will primarily supply Apple with the LTPO-OLED panels, as the technology is ready and already used on its flagship devices.

There has been much rumour that Apple would use 120 Hz OLED panels for its iPhone 12 line of products this year, but that hasn't happened. By the time the iPhone 13 series is launched next year, the technology behind LTPO-OLED panels with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate should be more sophisticated, allowing Apple to adopt it for its Pro iPhones.