Li Auto to Deliver Li Mega MPVs With LCD Screens Amid Samsung OLED Shortage

Vehicles built between November 10 and December 17 will leave the plant without their headline feature: the Samsung 29-inch OLED cabin screen. Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) confirmed the shortage on Monday and will fit LCD panels instead, then retrofit OLEDs free of charge from March 1, 2027.

Tang Jing, the company's product line head, announced the disruption on Weibo. He said Li Auto recently received unexpected notice of a temporary supply cut for the custom screen. Recovery is not expected before around year-end.

The shortage touches a specific cohort of buyers. It covers every customer who locked in an order between 5:06 pm Beijing time on September 11 and 9:52 am on October 26. That is a five-week order window tied to a five-week production window.

Why can't Li Auto just switch suppliers?

It cannot, by its own account. The 29-inch 6K automotive-grade OLED panoramic screen is custom-made by Samsung for the Li Mega, according to Tang. No other supplier currently offers a matching specification, he said. That single-source dependency now dictates the delivery plan.

The workaround uses the 29-inch 6K LCD screen from the Li L9 Livis. Li Auto claims the two screens deliver identical software and interaction experiences. Note what the company did not say: it made no claim about display quality parity. LCD and OLED differ in contrast and black levels, and buyers will judge the substitute themselves.

What do affected customers get?

The replacement program carries several concrete commitments:

• Free OLED retrofits begin March 1, 2027, contacting customers in delivery order.
• The front panoramic screen removes independently; the swap takes just over 10 minutes, Tang said.
• Li Auto pledged no damage, no marks, and no impact on quality or resale value.
• The replacement screen carries the same 5-year or 100,000-kilometer (62,140-mile) warranty as the vehicle.
• OTA updates and the software experience stay identical before and after the swap.

Compensation includes a 3-year Li Mega service package: unlimited in-car data, unlimited pickup and return for maintenance and repairs, and air-conditioning filter maintenance. Product specialists start calling affected customers individually on November 2, with detailed terms pushed through the Li Auto app.

A 10-minute swap is a strong claim. Buyers should expect proof once the first retrofits occur — in 2027, more than a year away.

Does the shortage hit a recovering model?

The timing stings because the Li Mega is regaining traction. Li Auto said yesterday that new Li Mega deliveries exceeded 3,000 vehicles in October, without giving an exact figure. The MPV recorded 2,318 deliveries in September. The company also did not break out how many October units carry the affected order window, so the LCD share of deliveries remains unknown.

The new-generation Li Mega launched September 2 in a single Home version priced at 509,800 yuan ($75,920), a cut of 50,000 yuan from the previous Home version. The lower price came with hardware additions: 4 LiDAR sensors and rear-wheel steering, plus the 29-inch OLED screen as part of the cockpit upgrade. The screen shortage therefore hits a marketed selling point of a demand-recovery play.

Company-wide numbers are softer. Li Auto delivered 29,025 vehicles in October, down 8.63% year-on-year — its second consecutive monthly decline and its lowest total since February. ($1 = 6.7146 yuan.)

Watch three dates: whether Samsung supply actually recovers around year-end, as predicted rather than confirmed; the November 2 customer outreach; and the March 1, 2027 retrofit start, which will test the 10-minute replacement claim against real workshop conditions.