November 22, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Display’s whopping 95 percent share in the mobile organic light-emitting diode panel market is expected to fall to 72 percent in 2020, according to a recent report by UBI Research, a research firm specialized in OLED, on Feb. 24. 

UBI said its smaller rivals such as LG Display and other Chinese and Japanese display makers will start their full-scale mobile OLED production from next year as they are still struggling to elevate the yield rate. 

Related:
LG Display CEO still upbeat on LCD demand despite upcoming OLED iPhone
Samsung wins new W5tr OLED supply deal with Apple


Demands for mobile OLED panels are soaring ahead of Apple’s planned adoption for the upcoming iPhone 8 that comes out in September this year. Following the first OLED iPhone, other Chinese handset makers are also expected to roll out more OLED models.

Samsung Electronics currently uses OLED for almost 70 percent of its smartphones, extending the adoption for cheaper budget models.

Samsung Display is the sole supplier for the new iPhone. Sources say the company has recently won a fresh deal with Apple to supply 60 million OLED panels adding to last year’s supply deal of 100 million panels.

LG Display is also said to be beefing up OLED production to become a secondary supplier for the iPhone next year. The firm has thus far supplied liquid crystal displays for iPhones.

UBI said this year’s mobile OLED shipments will increase to 519.7 million units, up 38.8 percent from 374.4 million units in 2016.

The figure is expected to reach 1.422 billion units by 2020 with an annual growth rate of 39.8 percent, the research firm said. Sales also will soar to an estimated US$57,000 million in the next three years.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)