Accounts for 92.5% of Global Market
Samsung Display is facing an uphill battle in expanding its presence in the global market for vehicle-use OLEDs, which is dominated by LG Display.
According to Omdia, a market research company on displays, LG Display accounted for 92.5 percent of the market for vehicle OLED panels in terms of sales in 2020. Samsung Display accounted for 6.9 percent and China's BOE the remaining 0.6 percent.
LG Display developed plastic OLEDs (P-OLEDs) in 2019. Starting with the Escalade of General Motors (GM), it has been supplying the new vehicle display products for luxury cars of global automakers such as Mercedes-Benz. As P-OLED panels are expensive, LG Display’s main customers are high-end car manufacturers less burdened with parts prices.
P-OLED panel makers use plastic instead of glass substrates in producing panels. This allows them to create three-dimensional designs as well as two-dimensional designs such as circles and polygons. P-OLED panels are also considered suitable for cars with curved surfaces. Currently, the mainstream of the vehicle panel market are liquid crystal displays (LCDs), but the proportion of P-OLEDs is expected to jump in the future as it has the advantage of offering good picture quality and strong flexibility.
Samsung Display is seeking to expand its market share. It will supply OLED panels for Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ 5, the first model to be produced using the automaker’s electric vehicle platform E-GMP.
Samsung Display was able to supply OLED panels to Hyundai Motor as it has been supplying OLED panels to Audi's electric vehicle e-Tron since 2018. The e-Tron has rear view cameras on the side of the car doors, allowing drivers to see the rear of their vehicles on an OLED display. A similar technology will be applied to the IONIQ 5.
The market for OLED panels for vehicles will grow by more than 60 percent annually from 240,000 units in 2020 to 4.4 million units in 2025, IHS Markit forecast. However, small OLED products for vehicles offer low profitability. "We cannot rule out the possibility that Hyundai Motor decided to collaborate with Samsung Display to lower costs,” an industry insider said.