LG now providing smartphone displays to HUAWEI

Making smartphones creates some interesting company alliances. Samsung, the arch-rival of Apple, provides chips and displays for various iPhones. Sony provides camera parts to other smartphone manufacturers, like OnePlus. Now, it looks like LG supplied OLED displays to HUAWEI for use in the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate RS.

LG has earned high marks for its OLED panels, but mostly with its televisions. In the smartphone market, LG’s OLED panels have their fair share of issues. But it looks like the company is making some leaps, because HUAWEI chose an LG display to put into its $2,000 superphone.

One of the most notable features of the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate RS is that it has an under-glass fingerprint sensor. While the technology behind this is likely supplied by Synaptics, which supplied the under glass sensor in the vivo Apex, the display itself most likely needs to be specially configured to work with the sensor technology. Perhaps LG could make a name for itself in the smartphone display market with phones that feature under glass sensors?

So far, it looks like LG is only supplying displays specifically for the Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate RS. Since that device is so expensive, it probably won’t sell in very high numbers. It could be that HUAWEI is using the Mate RS as a testing ground for LG’s advancements in the OLED smartphone display world and will put an LG display in another phone with a higher production output should the company prove itself.

HUAWEI is now the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer, while LG doesn’t even break the top five. LG has also had some inner turmoil recently, with its planned follow-up to the LG G6 getting scrapped at the last minute for a total redesign. With that in mind, LG is likely taking this new partnership with HUAWEI very seriously.

NEXT: Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate RS: Everything you want at triple the price