BOE, which is pushing to produce smartphone OLED panels following IT panels at its B16 8.6G OLED line. (Source: BOE)
BOE’s B16 Gen 8.6 OLED line is showing signs of expanding its production scope from medium-sized OLED panels for notebooks to small-sized OLED panels for smartphones. The B16 Phase 1 line conducted panel lighting tests late last year and is expected to mass-produce OLED panels for notebooks. However, BOE is also considering smartphone OLED panel production in order to improve the utilization rate of its Gen 8.6 line. The first product is expected to be supplied to OPPO. The actual mass production schedule remains flexible, depending on the customer’s timeline and the stabilization of the initial process.
B16 is an OLED line based on Gen 8.6 substrates, and its process difficulty differs from existing Gen 6 OLED lines for smartphones. Gen 8.6 substrates have a larger glass area, making them advantageous for producing IT OLED panels such as notebooks and tablets. However, for products such as smartphone OLED panels, where pixels must be formed at high density, the precision of the FMM, or Fine Metal Mask, becomes a critical variable.
RGB OLED panels for smartphones require highly precise subpixel patterning using FMM. As the substrate size increases, controlling FMM sagging and alignment errors becomes more difficult. Therefore, producing high-resolution panels above 400 ppi, such as those used in the Galaxy S series or iPhone series, on a Gen 8.6 line is not easy.
Considering these technical limitations, the initial smartphone products from B16 Phase 1 are likely to start with FHD-class panels in the 350–400 ppi range. This would be a realistic approach to reduce the burden on the FMM process and prioritize initial yield stabilization. The first OPPO-bound product is also more likely to be an FHD-class smartphone OLED panel rather than a high-resolution panel for flagship models. For high-resolution smartphone FMM, DNP is regarded as the company with the highest level of technology, and it will take considerable time for other mask suppliers to secure the same level of precision and mass production stability on large-area substrates.
The BOE B16 line illustrates how China’s OLED industry is shifting from a Gen 6-centered smartphone OLED production structure to a Gen 8.6-based multi-product OLED production system. For Gen 8.6 OLED to become a versatile production line capable of stably manufacturing notebook, tablet, and smartphone panels, securing high-precision FMM technology and stabilizing initial yield will be essential.
Junho Kim, Analyst at UBI Research (alertriot@ubiresearch.com)
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