Smartphone OLED Panels to Grow 39% Next Year... China's Pursuit Poses Major Threat

Photo by Samsung Display

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Next year’s shipment volume of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for smartphones is expected to increase by nearly 40% compared to this year, driven by major smartphone manufacturers like Apple expanding their adoption of OLED. Although this is a field where Korean companies have strong market competitiveness, Chinese companies leveraging price competitiveness are rapidly catching up, making the battle for market leadership more intense.

According to industry sources on the 23rd, market research firm Omdia recently forecasted that next year’s smartphone OLED panel shipments will reach 812 million units. This represents a 38.8% increase from the estimated 585 million units expected this year.

Apple is expected to be the largest user of smartphone OLED panels. Apple’s OLED panel usage is analyzed to be 169 million units this year and 190 million units next year. Samsung Electronics is expected to use 157 million units this year and 168 million units next year, ranking second after Apple in terms of usage volume.

The smartphone OLED panel market is dominated by Samsung Display, which holds more than half of the global shipment volume and maintains the number one position. However, with Chinese companies aggressively competing on price, Samsung Display’s market share is expected to gradually shrink.

According to Omdia, Samsung Display’s market share in smartphone OLED panels (based on shipment volume) was 86% in 2019, 78% last year, 77% this year, and is projected to fall to 65% next year. LG Display’s share was around 3% in 2019, 5% in 2020, and is expected to be about 8% this year and 7% next year, Omdia predicted.

On the other hand, Chinese companies’ market share is expected to rise from 15% this year to 27% next year. In particular, China’s largest display manufacturer BOE is analyzed to increase its share from 6% this year to 13% next year.

Omdia stated, “Chinese display companies are improving their technological capabilities while chasing Samsung Display,” adding, “China will pose a significant threat to Korea’s leadership in the OLED market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.