Apple could be forced to find a new supplier of Oled screens for the iPhone SE 4 since its potential partner, the Chinese BOE, is starting to worry American political representatives.
The iPhone SE 4 is already a highly anticipated smartphone. Expected for 2025, Apple’s future entry-level model promises to be particularly interesting with a more modern design, the transition to USB-C or even the adoption of an Oled display.
The Oled precisely, let’s talk about it. To reduce manufacturing costs for this iPhone SE, Apple would like to turn to a Chinese supplier that is increasingly popular with brands: BOE. In recent years, when inquiring about the screen suppliers of this or that smartphone, we come across the name of this company more and more regularly.
BOE worried in the United States
A dynamic that has also not escaped the attention of the Special Committee of the United States House of Representatives on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. The chairman of this committee, John Moolenaar, sent a letter to the American Secretary of Defense to alert him to “ the growing threat to the United States economy and national security posed by Chinese LCD and OLED companies BOE Technology Group and Tianma Microelectronics Co ».
The political representative mentions a “ aggressive subsidy policy » of China in the manufacturing of LCD and Oled panels. “In doing so, it drives non-Chinese companies out of the market and strengthens the dominant position of the People’s Republic of China in the sector.“. Thus, according to John Moolenar, China would monopolize 51% of global production capacity for Oled screens today compared to 1% in 2014.
In addition, the chairman of the committee explains that the two companies he cites have links to the Chinese army. For example, “BOE has beenfounded in 1993 as a supplier of military and defense equipment, and it is integrated as a prime contractor for the People’s Liberation Army [nom officiel de l’armée chinoise ; NDLR] ».
The threat of the blacklist?
The Committee therefore calls on the American administration toblacklist BOE. This is obviously reminiscent of the embargo imposed by Washington on Huawei. This affair also took place – and still takes place – in a context of tensions and heightened competition between the United States and China.
If BOE suffers the same fate, it will bea prioriimpossible for Apple to collaborate with this supplier. And the Apple firm could therefore be forced to find an alternative. We’re not there yet. However, it remains interesting to see that this major supplier to the industry is already in the crosshairs of American political leaders.
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