LG’s new OLED plant is approved by China, weeks after Apple partnership reported

LG announced today in a press release that the Chinese government just approved LG to build an OLED production facility in Guangzhou. A mock-up of the plant is pictured above.

While LG building a new plant in China specifically to build OLED panels is certainly newsworthy, it is especially interesting because we found out only two weeks ago that Apple is likely going to use LG OLEDs in some of its upcoming iPhones.

As of now, the only OLED panels Apple uses are made by Samsung, so the LG partnership will bring some much-needed competition to the OLED market.

While LG’s display technology is usually good (especially in its televisions, which the new Chinese plant will focus on), it likely isn’t just a coincidence that this plant approval came so soon after LG’s suspected Apple partnership hit the news.

According to an anonymous source familiar with the matter, Apple will use LG OLEDs (as well as Samsung OLEDs) in some of its upcoming iPhone models. It’s not yet known for which of the reported three iPhone models LG will supply displays.

One of the reported reasons LG is only supplying some of the OLEDs of Apple’s new devices is because LG couldn’t meet Apple’s production demands. Now we have a new plant opening in China. Coincidence?

Obviously, LG’s intention to build a new plant didn’t pop-up overnight, but it might have been that China was reluctant to approve the venture until the Apple news.

According to LG, the new plant will produce about 60,000 displays per month, and will gradually increase that output to 90,000 displays per month. As previously stated, these will mostly be television-sized OLEDs, but it’s likely the plant will also produce smartphone-sized panels.

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