Samsung Display, an Apple supplier, is slowing plans for new smartphone display technology, as per the latest update from Counterpoint Research. DRAM prices rose roughly 3.5 times year over year in the third quarter of 2026, and display equipment capex is forecast to fall 49% in 2027 to $5.5 billion.
LG Display is slowing too, and Counterpoint names Samsung Display as the maker of the OLED panels in Apple’s MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, with deliveries starting on November 6. The 2027 cut follows a 61% jump in 2026, when capex reached $10.8 billion.
Apple supplier Samsung Display is delaying new phone display plans
The memory increase is changing when phone makers adopt new display technology. Mainstream bar-type phones have little room left to raise prices, because their United States retail prices are already up by at least $100. That is why Samsung Display and LG Display are delaying or trimming planned investment in new Gen 6 smartphone display technology.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 and the iPhone Duo have absorbed part of the added cost through premium pricing and differentiated features, even while adopting new display technologies. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 and the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199, which is $100 above the iPhone 17 Pro and one of Apple’s 2026 price increases.
Display equipment capex falls 49% in 2027 after a 61% jump
Jayden Lee, an associate director at Counterpoint, says 2026 spending of $10.8 billion is about 68% of the 2020 peak of $15.8 billion, the highest display investment of the past decade. That leaves 2027 at $5.5 billion, about half of this year.
Spending this year went mainly to 8.7-Gen IT OLED lines at BOE’s B16, Visionox’s V5 and CSOT’s T8, along with 8.6-Gen LCD investment at Tianma’s TM19. Next year has no project as large as BOE’s B16 Phase 2, so total capex falls even though new technology development and supplementary investment continue.
He says the ramp-up in 8-Gen IT OLED investment had raised expectations of a rebound, and that Samsung Display plans to mass-produce the MacBook Pro’s OLED panels at its 8-Gen IT OLED fab. Rising memory prices are now a headwind for new display technology and the spending behind it, which is why he expects 2027 investment to land 49% below 2026.
TrendForce says Samsung Display is the exclusive panel supplier for the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and has set aside Phase 1 of its G8.6 A6 line in Asan for Apple. It also estimates 1.2 million to 1.5 million OLED MacBook Pro shipments in 2027.
Sunic System is projected to top display equipment suppliers in 2027
Sunic System is forecast to become the first South Korean equipment maker to lead the display equipment market by revenue in 2027, with a 16% share against 7% for Applied Materials and 5% for Nikon. It has the full order for the fine metal mask deposition equipment that forms OLED pixels at BOE’s B16 fab, and it has been gaining ground on Canon Tokki, which has historically dominated OLED deposition equipment.
Micro-OLED, the display type in Apple Vision Pro, rises from 3% of display capex in 2026 to 6% in 2027, and Sunic System builds deposition equipment for the silicon wafer-based version used in high-resolution VR. Samsung Display is expected to pursue the industry’s first 12-inch wafer-based RGB Micro-OLED investment, and Sunic System is seen as a strong candidate to supply the deposition equipment for it.
