On March 27, Huawei unveiled the premium Mate RS Porsche Design smartphone alongside the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro flagship phones. The Mate RS features a 6-inch flexible OLED screen that bends towards the edges like the Samsung Galaxy smartphones. According to ET News, a South Korean publication, the LG Display is supplying OLED panels for the Mate RS.
Samsung is dominating the OLED display market with a market share of more than 95 percent. LG Display also manufactures OLED panels. Last year, it gained popularity when it was used on the Google Pixel 2 XL and LG V30 smartphones. The South Korean company also supplies its display panels to Xiaomi. The Mate RS is the first Huawei phone to feature LG Display’s OLED screen. It is also first phone from the Chinese manufacturer to be equipped with an under-display fingerprint reader. According to the publication, the LG Display could be responsible for combining the OLED screen and a fingerprint sensor into a single module.
The supply volume of OLED screens for the Mate RS may not be high because the handset carries an expensive price tag. The 256 GB and 512 GB variants of the Mate RS are respectively priced at 1.965 euros (~$2,412) and 2,095 euros (~$2,572). By selling 153 million phones in 2017, Huawei is the third biggest smartphone maker in the world. Having a contract with a company like Huawei that is continuing to grow when smartphone markets are in slump will be a good chance for LG Display to increase the supply of its OLED panels.
