Samsung President Roh Tae-Moon Reportedly Plans to Visit BOE: Galaxy S27 May Get BOE OLED Panels for Cost Cut

Samsung Display supplies screens for a range of Galaxy smartphones, including the flagship Galaxy S26 series. However, recent leaks claimed that the Galaxy S27 series will feature display panels from BOE as Samsung is trying to reduce its reliance on its own display manufacturing subsidiary. Amid these rumours, Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon is reportedly set to visit BOE Technology Group later this month, marking the first time the head of Samsung Electronics’ smartphone and TV businesses meets with BOE. This suggests that BOE will be part of Samsung’s future products.

Why Samsung is considering BOE

Samsung is reportedly considering Chinese display giant BOE as a secondary OLED supplier for the base Samsung Galaxy S27 modeldue in 2027. BOE has offered Samsung OLED panels for the standard Galaxy S27 at a $5 lower price per unit than Samsung Display. With Samsung struggling in recent years with rising costs for key hardware components, especially memory chips and processors, the company is seriously considering using these cheaper Chinese OLED panels from BOE in the standard model Galaxy S27.

BOE panels likely only for base S27

Industry sources suggest that Samsung is seriously considering using BOE panels only for the base model. The S27+ and S27 Ultra are still expected to stick with Samsung Display panels. The potential move to BOE panels would be detrimental to Samsung Display and its component suppliers, but it would help Samsung save millions on the Galaxy S27.

Samsung MX division evaluating BOE samples

Samsung’s Mobile eXperience (MX) division has requested information from BOE regarding OLED panel development for the Galaxy S27 and has been evaluating samples for over a month. According to unnamed industry insiders, BOE is on track to meet the requirements for the Galaxy S27 OLED panels, with no major technical difficulties in BOE’s way.

Roh Tae-moon’s visit to BOE

As per a new report by ET News (Korean), Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon will visit BOE at the end of this month. This meeting between President Roh and BOE reportedly comes six months after BOE Chairman Chen Yanshun visited Korea and met with President Roh last December. This would mark the first time the head of Samsung Electronics’ smartphone and TV businesses meets with BOE.