OPPO is expected to unveil its first foldable smartphone dubbed OPPO Find N on December 15. Ahead of the launch, the device has been revealed by Korean media outfit TheElec to have a Samsung Display foldable screen for its 7.1-inch folding OLED panel while the front display is a 5.45-inch flat OLED panelsupplied by China’s BOE.

TheElec has also revealled that other Chinese companies are already patronising Samsung Display for their next foldable phones. Xiaomi is one of such firms as the Xiaomi MIX 2 foldable smartphone is touted to feature a UTG panel supplied by Samsung Display.

Samsung partnered with Corning to pioneer the UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) foldable display panel in 2020. The Galaxy Fold/Flip series was hitherto the only models utilizing the UTG panel until OPPO came onboard. Meanwhile Chinese smartphone makers use CPI (Colorless Polyimide) as display cover for their foldable models like the Huawei Mate X released in 2019 as well as the Mate X2 and Mi Mix Fold. But obviously, the CPI is not as durable as Samsung Display’s UTG panel hence the quest to shift to UTG. BOE is looking to give Samsung a run for its money in the UTG market.

Xiaomi’s upcoming MIX Fold 2 is detailed to feature Samsung Display’s 8.01-inch OLED panel with UTG as well as TCL CSOT’s 6.52-inch panel for the front screen. Xiaomi had initially used foldable display panels supplied by TCL CSOT as well as for the front screen  on the Mi MIX Fold.

Apart from Xiaomi, Vivo is also said to use display panels supplied by Samsung Disply and BOE for the inner foldable and outer displays respectively of its foldable phone. Huawei is said to have considered securing foldable OLED panels from Samsung Display but the plan was later shelved as far back as the first half of the year. The CHinese giant may likely retail BOE who had supplied the panels for the Mate X and Mate X2. Honor’s upcoming foldable device is also tipped to use BOE’s foldable display panel.

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Samsung has been a leader in the foldable smartphone category having launched a few devices with the new form factor. Several other manufacturers are entering the category and one of them is Google with its new foldable Pixel smartphone.

Now, a new report coming from Korea claims that Samsung will be supplying its ultra-thin glass (UTG) to Google. So far, Samsung Display is supplying Ultra-Thin Glass exclusively to Samsung Electronics.

It is believed that the South Korean company decided to sell UTG to other companies as it plans to expand its foldable display business. Along with Google, the company could start shipping UTG to other companies in the second half of this year.

Ultra-Thin Glass was announced by Samsung in February last year and is manufactured using an intensifying process to achieve enhanced flexibility and durability compared to traditional polyimide cover window.

For those who are unaware, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip was the first phone to use the Ultra-Thin Glass as the cover window for its inner screen. The recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 2 also uses UTG.

As for the foldable Google Pixel smartphone, there’s no information about the phone’s design or features. But it is claimed that the device will be using Samsung Display’s foldable OLED panel. While the launch date is not known, it is believed that the phone will be unveiled at a hardware event in the fall along with Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

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China’s largest display maker, BOE, has started securing Ultra Thin Glass or UTG technology. This piece of technology is an integral part of foldable smartphones, which is commercialized by Samsung Display.

As per a report from ETNews, the Chinese display maker is planning on entering the commercial market for UTG. It is seeking to cooperate and meet with several domestic UTG related materials suppliers, part makers, and equipment manufacturing companies as well. In other words, all the firms related to the folding glass process are being targeted and BOE will be supervising the new project.

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According to a source close to the matter, “BOE is planning on mass producing 20 million foldable panels, and has proposed cooperation for mass production of UTG.” For those unaware, UTGs are used on a foldable display panel. Glass is generally used to provide a rigid structure that does not break when bent or folded. However, making the glass thinner helps it become more flexible and can allow the display to be folded. Although, this also requires a complex process to make it sturdy as well.

Samsung Display has developed the world’s first UTG, which can be folded and unfolded more than 200,000 times. At the moment, it is the only brand to have commercialized on the UTG market for a foldable smartphones, with the technology being a core component. Thus, the move from BOE can be said to be an attempt to narrow the technology gap with Samsung and may even offer a more viable alternative to smartphone OEMs.

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Samsung is the forerunner of foldable smartphones. The company just launched Galaxy Z Fold2 a few hours ago as its third foldable device. Ahead of it, news broke out that Samsung Electronics has partnered with Corning to develop its own foldable glass.

The display, display cover, and hinge are the three main crucial hardware parts of a foldable smartphone. The original Galaxy Fold uses CPI (Colorless Polyimide) as display cover, which is not as durable as UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) used in the other two devices from the company – Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold2.

For those unaware, Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display are two independent companies. The latter supplies OLED panels for almost all the devices manufactured by former except for the upcoming Galaxy M51.

Samsung Display also supplies UTG for Samsung Electronics, which is manufactured by  DOWOO INSYS using glass substrates supplied by SCHOTT AG. Thus, the electronics division of Samsung has to pay a large amount of money for display and display cover supplies.

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Back in April, a report by South Korea’s ETNews stated that Samsung Electronics was looking to manufacture UTG on its own to reduce the overall manufacturing cost of its foldables. That report mentioned that UTG used in Galaxy Z Flip costs $40 per unit compared to $2 for flat glass used in normal smartphones.

This is one of the reasons why foldables are expensive. But that could change in the coming years as Samsung Electronics has successfully joined hands with Corning to develop its own UTG as per a report by the same publication. This news comes after the company had patented three different types of screen covers for foldables, out of which, two of them involves UTG.

The new report states that “according to the display industry, Samsung Electronics IT & Mobile Communications Business has recently started receiving necessary glass substrates from Corning”.

That means the company will continue to improve its yield in the coming months so that it could be self-reliant as well as competitive to Samsung Display. This will further lead to competition among other glass manufacturers in the next few years eventually bringing down the cost of foldable smartphones as a whole.

On the other hand, Samsung Display has now begun to focus on diversifying its customers as it cannot rely on Samsung Electronics. In fact, it has already received orders for OLED  panels from Huawei for its foldable smartphones. 

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