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On February 23, Apple reportedly upgraded its OLED driver chip process for the iPhone 15 series from 40nm HV to 28nm HV, a change that will help further reduce power consumption and improve battery life, according to supply chain sources.

Currently, the core suppliers of Apple's OLED driver chips are LX Semicon and Samsung System LSI, of which Samsung System LSI driver chips are mainly manufactured by Samsung Electronics and UMC, while LX Semicon driver chips are mainly manufactured by TSMC, UMC, and Ge-chip. These driver chip designers and foundries are likely to benefit from Apple's OLED driver chip process upgrade. At the same time, news has recently emerged that UMC may enter Apple's OLED driver chip supply chain in 2024.

There are two possible reasons for Apple's OLED driver chip process upgrade. Firstly, the 28nm HV process could further reduce the power consumption of OLED driver chips and improve the battery life of the iPhone 15 series models. Secondly, the foundries LX Semicon and Samsung System LSI are migrating the OLED driver process from 40nm HV to 28nm HV and moving the 40nm process to other types of chips such as eFlash flash memory. Their willingness to take on 40nm OLED DDI orders is not high.

Although the Chinese foundries in Taiwan have reduced their 40nm HV OLED driver chip foundry capacity, demand for 40nm OLED driver chip foundry capacity has increased as shipments of flexible OLEDs continue to grow, which may lead to a shortage of 40nm HV OLED driver chip foundry capacity. At the same time, the migration of Apple's OLED driver chips to 28nm HV may also result in a shortage of 28nm capacity, thus leading chip designers to now compete for available 40nm and 28nm foundry capacity.

There are no rumours that the display will be upgraded for the next generation of iPhone, but it is expected to feature a Lingering Island design across the range, with narrower bezels also expected on the iPhone 15 Pro range of models.