A new report from Korea today notes that last quarter's Samsung Display sales marked a weak link in Samsung's overall performance, down 12%. Due to this weak performance Samsung moved quickly today to replace Park Dong-geun with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun to lead the display affiliate. The move was approved by the board. The change had been expected because Samsung is seeking to offset growing weakness in memory chips with the growth in its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) business with Apple.

As the conventional LCD market is being commoditized due to the rapid rise of Chinese suppliers, Samsung has been urged to "do something" to maintain its leadership in the display sector. The officials said Apple's plan to use OLEDs on its flagship devices will be a boon for Samsung.

"Display results were weak reporting a loss due to LCD oversupply. OLEDs, however, remain very strong with outlook particularly optimistic given the highly anticipated move by Apple," Bernstein Research's managing director Mark C. Newman said in a report to clients.

While it's been widely rumored that Apple signed an agreement with Samsung to supply OLEDs for their 2017 iPhone, Samsung refrained from confirming Apple business directly.

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