[ET NEWS] LG Display is for the first time supplying OLED panels to Huawei, according to industry sources on April 2.

The panels are being fitted into the Chinese phone maker’s latest ultra-premium Mate RS smartphone. LG Display currently supplies to LG Electronics and China’s Xiaomi. 

Huawei Mate RS

The Mate RS, a collaboration between Huawei and Porsche Design, is an ultra-premium smartphone priced at about US$2,000. The phone, among other things, supports in-display fingerprint scanning -- a high-end feature its bigger rivals Samsung and Apple have not yet utilized in their latest flagship phones.

LG supplies the entire display module consisting of a six-inch curved screen and the fingerprint sensor. China’s Goodix makes the sensors.

Starting with the Mate RS, LG is expected to ramp up efforts to supply more OLED panels to Huawei. LG is a latecomer in the mobile OLED market; its crosstown rival Samsung Display dominates more than 95 percent of the market.

“The supply volume for the Mate RS might be modest due to the high price tag. But LG seems to be taking great care of Huawei considering its No. 3 position in the global market,” an industry source told ET News on condition of anonymity.

Huawei sold 150 million phones last year globally to rank as the world’s third-largest smartphone maker after Samsung and Apple.

By Yoon Kun-il (benyun@etnews.com)
This story was co-produced by ET News and The Investor.