Google is reportedly offering to invest up to $880 million (1 trillion won) to help LG Display in boosting its production of OLED panels for smartphones. The company is making the offer in a bid to secure supplies of flexible OLED panels for future Pixel smartphones.

It is unclear if Google will be using flexible OLED panels on the Pixel 2 as we have not yet heard anything on that front yet.

The paper said Google offered the investment to secure a stable supply of flexible OLED screens for its next Pixel smartphones.

With Samsung supplying Apple with OLED panels from later this year for the iPhone 8, it is possible that there will be a shortage of OLED panels. Thus, by offering to invest money in LG Display, Google is simply trying to ensure that it is able to secure itself a regular supply of OLED panels irrespective of the market situation.

Samsung is the dominant player in the OLED display market and supplies panels to the majority of OEMs out there, including Google for its Nexus and Pixel devices. However, now that the company will be supplying panels to Apple, OEMs are worried about a potential supply issue that could hamper their own supply chain.