According to South Korean media reports on July 7, the supply pattern of Apple's MacBook displays will undergo a significant transformation in 2025. According to the latest report from market research agency Omdia, BOE will surpass LGD (LG Display) for the first time and is expected to become the largest supplier of displays for Apple's MacBook, accounting for more than 50% of the market share.

Chart: The number of notebook panels Apple purchases from panel manufacturers each year (percentage) (Source: Omdia)

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The report shows that BOE is expected to supply approximately 11.5 million notebook displays to Apple in 2025, with a market share of 51%, an increase of 12 percentage points from the previous year. In particular, BOE's supply of 13.6 - inch and 15.3 - inch displays, which are the main models of Apple's MacBook Air, is gradually increasing.

Correspondingly, LGD's market share will decline. LGD has long been a major supplier of notebook displays for Apple, but its supply share is expected to drop to 35% in 2025. This figure is 9 percentage points lower than that in 2024, and the overall supply volume is expected to decrease by 12.2% to 8.48 million units. It is expected that this is due to Apple's transfer of MacBook Air display orders from LGD to BOE.

Sharp remains focused on supplying 14.2 - inch and 16.2 - inch panels for the MacBook Pro. However, due to the slowing demand for this series of products, its supply volume in 2025 is expected to decrease by 20.8% from the previous year to 3.1 million units. As a result, Sharp's market share will also shrink to approximately 14%.

Omdia predicts that Apple's total MacBook panel purchases in 2025 will reach about 22.5 million units, a year - on - year increase of 1%. This is mainly because, starting from the end of 2024, due to the uncertainty of U.S. trade tariff policies, Apple has shifted its OEM production base from China to Vietnam and purchased inventory in advance for the main models of MacBook Air. The impact is expected to continue into the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

It is expected that after the second quarter of 2025, most panel suppliers will face conservative shipment expectations, but BOE may be an exception due to the continued demand for MacBook Air.

In response to this, industry insiders said: "The expansion of BOE's market share is not only due to its price competitiveness, but also because its production quality and large - scale delivery capabilities have been recognized."

It is worth noting that Apple has continuously applied advanced LCD technologies in its MacBook product line, including high resolution, oxide backplanes, MiniLED backlights, and low - power designs, and plans to gradually transition to OLED display technology in the next few years.

Omdia predicts that Apple will officially introduce OLED technology in the MacBook series starting from 2026. OLED has a thinner and lighter structure and excellent image quality, so it is likely to become the main display technology for future MacBooks. In particular, Samsung Display is expected to join Apple's MacBook supply chain in 2026, and the existing pattern dominated by LCD will transform into a new competitive pattern dominated by OLED.

Industry insiders expect that after the transition to OLED, the technological competition between Samsung, LG, and BOE will become increasingly fierce.