Back on January 30, Patently Apple posted a report titled "Samsung Display's Complaint to US ITC against 17 U.S. smartphone repair shops is an indirect warning to Chinese OLED maker BOE & others." Right after Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo Surprised the market with his prediction that BOE would overtake Samsung for iPhone 15 and 15 Pro Displays, Samsung sprung into action against BOE.

While Samsung Display had filed an OLED panel patent infringement lawsuit against U.S. component makers, BOE, the largest display company in China, was attracting attention from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and they've now decided to launch an investigation specifically into BOE, which was Samsung's intended target all along, as we pointed out in our January report.   

BusinessKorea reports today that BOE will be investigated with regard to Samsung Display’s patent infringement under the ITC’s investigation.

In January, the ITC started to look into the case by accepting Samsung Display’s request to ban 17 US parts wholesalers including Captain Mobile Parts, E-Tech Parts Plus, Gadget Fix, Injured Gadget, and DFW Cell Phone & Parts, from using external display parts and panels, based on Article 337 of the U.S. Customs Act.

Chinese panel makers such as BOE are known to secretly sell panels that cannot be delivered to mobile phone makers as good products. Such panels can be exported to the United States and used as panels for the iPhone and the Galaxy smartphones when being repaired.

According to a BusinessKorea source: "This Samsung Display lawsuit can be seen as a warning to Chinese companies such as BOE. It aims to protect Samsung Display’s core technologies and enable the Korean display giant to secure and increase future competitiveness."

With BOE reportedly not participating in supplying Apple with OLED displays for any iPhone 15model, you have to wonder what Samsung conveyed to Apple in respect to potential lawsuits to block BOE displays for Apple's top iPhones.