Apple is expected to expand the Dynamic Island to all four iPhone 15 models released this year, but the integrated feature is making it difficult for one of Apple's Chinese suppliers to produce the devices en masse, claims a new report.
According to Korean-language website The Elec, China's BOE is having problems with light leakage around the portion of the OLED display where the pill and hole cutouts secure the space necessary for the TrueDepth camera and Face ID.
The issues are said to be limited to a low-end 6.1-inch iPhone 15 model that BOE has been involved in manufacturing. The report implies that Samsung and LG Display – set to mass produce the "Pro" 6.1-inch model and the two larger "Plus" and "Pro Max" 6.7-inch models – have not experienced similar problems.
Apple apparently requested that its iPhone 15 OLED suppliers use something called Edge Light Blocking (ELB), a device to prevent light leakage around the camera lens, among other advanced process technologies. However, for whatever reason, this solution has not been successful for BOE. Indeed, BOE "seems to have failed to meet the stringent standards required by Apple," reads the machine-translated report.
As a result of the light leakage issue, the report claims it will be difficult for BOE to participate in the mass production of OLED panels for the first shipment of the iPhone 15 series scheduled for around June.
Instead, the report predicts that OLED panels produced by BOE will be initially used for repairs and refurbs, rather than for new products. Whether LG or Samsung take up the OLED orders that BOE will miss out on will likely be dictated by production capacity.
Dynamic Island is a pill-shaped area surrounding the Face ID sensors and front camera on the iPhone 14 Pro models. The feature can display system alerts for things like incoming phone calls and the Face ID authentication prompt, and it also works with Live Activities in third-party apps.
The feature is currently exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, but is expected to be available on the standard non-Pro iPhone 15 models this year as well, according to oft-accurate display industry analyst Ross Young.
