Apple and the Trap of the Contaminated Screen

Hello! Today, I want to share a story about a massive storm shaking the ground beneath the world’s brightest company, Apple. On the surface, all seems calm, but beneath lies an unpredictable drama unfolding. This is the war over the ‘contaminated screen.’

1. A Well-Written Script: Samsung’s Two Calculated Strikes

As every story has a beginning, this massive storm started with two stones thrown by a seasoned strategist, Samsung Display (SDC). Many felt reassured by the first stone, but the real storm came with the second.

First Act: The Illusion of “It’ll Be Okay”

The story began in December 2022 when Samsung filed a patent infringement lawsuit against component wholesalers using BOE panels. Like the first act of a play, the market took this lawsuit lightly. Then, in March 2025, the court ruled that BOE did infringe patents but did not need to be immediately removed from the US market. BOE proclaimed, “We won!” and everyone, including Apple, breathed a sigh of relief. They thought the worst was avoided and only financial issues remained. But this was merely the prologue to the grand drama Samsung had prepared.

Second Act: The Hidden Decisive Blow

While everyone was off guard, Samsung quietly drew its second sword in October 2023. This time, it targeted not the “patent” shell but the heart of “trade secrets.” The claim was, “BOE did not just copy a few technologies. It is a company that grew by stealing our company’s blood and sweat — our personnel and core secrets!” This was backed by concrete evidence that BOE poached Samsung’s former researchers and pressured partners to steal confidential information.

Then, in July 2025, an unexpected ruling shocked everyone. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) imposed a 14 years and 8 months ban on BOE’s imports into the US, effectively a death sentence. This sent a strong message that technology theft cannot lead to success by simply shortcutting development time. BOE’s “perfect victory” declared four months earlier became a harbinger of its most devastating defeat.

2. The Broken Lever: What BOE Meant to Apple

You might think, “So what if one supplier disappears? Apple should be fine.” But BOE was not just a parts supplier to Apple. It was the most important “weapon” protecting Apple’s massive profits.

The Price-Dominating Technology, the “Lever”

Apple has always been a master of the “lever strategy,” pitting multiple suppliers against each other to cut component prices. In the OLED market, two Korean companies, Samsung and LG Display, tightly controlled the market. To break this structure, Apple nurtured China’s BOE over several years. Supported by the Chinese government, BOE could offer much lower prices, and Apple used BOE’s price tags as leverage to pressure Samsung and LG to lower their supply costs.

BOE was essentially Apple’s “price lever” maximizing profitability. Now, that lever has been shattered by the ITC ruling.

3. Surrounded by Storms: The Three Crises Apple Faces

Apple officially announced, “This ruling does not affect our products,” but this is like shouting “My feet aren’t wet” in front of a giant wave. Beneath the surface, three massive storms threaten Apple.

1. Legal Storm ⛈️: Samsung can now weaponize the ITC ruling to sue Apple directly. The argument: “You knowingly bought parts made with stolen BOE technology and profited greatly, so you are accomplices!” Damages could reach tens of trillions of won.
2. Reputation Storm 🌪️: Apple, known for “innovation” and “ethics,” could see its brand image plummet just by being embroiled in a lawsuit as a beneficiary of stolen technology. This also contradicts Apple’s own “Supplier Code of Conduct.”
3. Geopolitical Storm 🌊: This ruling is not just a corporate battle. It represents the US’s firm stance against technology theft clashing head-on with China’s ambition for technological dominance. Apple is now trapped, forced to choose sides between the US and China.

4. The Price of Agony: The Hidden Truth Behind iPhone 17

Amid all this crisis, the recently announced iPhone 17 price barely increased. While everyone expected a sharp rise due to soaring component costs, Apple essentially played the “price freeze” card. This reveals Apple’s deepest strategic anguish.

Apple could have raised prices to maintain legendary profitability but feared consumers would turn away due to higher costs. Ultimately, Apple chose a painful compromise, absorbing huge additional costs instead of passing them on to consumers. Behind the “reasonable price tag” of iPhone 17 lies Apple’s silent suffering as profits erode.

5. Forced Retreat and a New Path

This incident marks a failure and “forced retreat” of Apple’s supply chain strategy built over the past decade. The era of chasing only efficiency and cost-cutting is over; a new era demanding stability and geopolitical risk management has begun.

Investors and all of us must now view Apple through a different lens.

• Immediate Separation: How quickly Apple removes BOE parts from Western markets will be the first test of its crisis management.
• Profitability Decline: The drop in Apple’s quarterly gross margin will be the key indicator revealing the depth of the damage.
• New Alternatives: Long-term, Apple will accelerate in-house development of next-generation displays like microLED to reduce reliance on external suppliers.

The “contaminated screen” crisis has taught Apple a painful lesson: even the most successful company can face a massive crisis from a single component or a wrong choice. Now begins an exciting story of how Apple will rise from this forced retreat to build a stronger, wiser future.