Apple wants cheaper OLED displays for iPhone 18 Pro Max amid RAM price surge: Report

Amid rising memory chip prices, Apple is reportedly asking its display suppliers to lower prices for the OLED panels used in the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max. According to a new report by The Elec, Apple has proposed paying around $70 per OLED panel for the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The report states that Samsung Display and LG Display are expected to supply the panels at an average price of around $66.50, which would be roughly 20% lower than what they charged for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

However, this trend isn’t entirely new, with The Elec noting that OLED panel prices for iPhones have gradually declined with every new generation. For instance, the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s OLED panels reportedly cost more than $100, while prices fell to around the $80 range for the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The good news for Apple fans is that cheaper display prices do not mean they will be getting an inferior product. On the contrary, the iPhone 18 Pro series is expected to use the M16 OLED from Samsung Display’s latest organic material set, which is said to offer improvements in brightness, lifespan and colour reproduction.

As for why Apple is asking for lower display prices for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, the report notes that the Cupertino-based tech giant is trying to offset rising memory costs by negotiating lower prices for other key components such as displays and camera modules.

“Apple is demanding steep price cuts from panel suppliers on the grounds of rising memory prices,” the report cited an industry official as saying. “Supply prices are falling even for high-specification products using the latest organic materials, so panel makers’ second-half earnings will vary depending on supply volumes, yields and the extent of cost reductions.”

According to market research firm UBI Research, cited by The Elec, Samsung Display is expected to supply around 46 million OLED panels for the iPhone 18 series this year, while LG Display is expected to ship around 41.09 million panels. Most of these panels are expected to be used in the Pro and Pro Max models.

iPhone 18 Pro Max leaked pricing:

According to a recent report by IDC, Apple could introduce a price hike of up to $200 for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max owing to the memory chip crisis. The report came shortly after Apple announced it was raising the prices of its iPads and MacBooks amid a memory chip crunch that has increased demand for the raw materials required to manufacture the devices.