Samsung will do what Samsung always does

Back in my June post, "Things to consider if you are an OLED investor", I mentioned

Samsung can disrupt competitors' launch and ramp-up schedule with intentional tightening of panel supply (that happened to Huawei's Ascend P1 back in early 2012). Samsung can also limit the supply highest quality OLED display to its own phones.

Apparently, the same thing is happening again this year and likely next year. Oppo announced two days that it will introduce a new version of its very popular R9 model, the R9km, which will use LCD from JDI instead of OLED display from Samsung due to supply shortage. Other specs and the price will stay the same. (see report here)

Separately, it is rumored that Huawei Mate 9 is also impacted by the supply shortage of OLED displays (source).

Again, those two incidents show how powerful Samsung is over its smartphone competitors since it dominates the OLED display supply. Before 2018, when alternative OLED supplies come online, Chinese OEMs will not be able to fully commit to OLED display.