A leaker with a reasonable track record has sketchy details of what they claim Samsung's iPhone Duo display deal is with Apple.
It was already known that Samsung makes the displays for the iPhone Duo, and also that the screen company had an exclusive deal. Apple was seemingly forced to accept the arrangement because no other firm was able to supply the required screens.
Now according to leaker Instant Digital posting on the Chinese social media site Weibo, the deal is a three-year one. It's to cover the current iPhone Duo and future models during that time, and they say Samsung is charging $250 per panel.
Previous reports say that Apple's other main display manufacturer, LG Display, does not yet make folding screens. BOE makes them for Huawei, but reportedly Apple considers those inadequate, plus it regularly has problems with that company's reliability.
While overall component prices are known to have risen for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, previously Apple was offering Samsung and LG Display around $70 per display panel.
The interior screen on the iPhone Duo is of course vastly more complex than the one on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, so it's unsurprising that it would cost considerably more to manufacture. But it means that the display is an unusually high proportion of the costs of manufacturing, representing around an eighth of the iPhone Duo's retail price.
That $250 price does not include any costs of assembly or testing. It also presumably only applies to the interior screen, as the leaker does not mention the exterior or front screen.
Instant Digital has a reasonable reputation for accuracy. They may well be one of the people Apple's Greg Joswiak was thinking of when he said that it was unfortunate that some leakers had got details of the iPhone Duo.
