Samsung Display's Dominance to Be Weakened

A next-generation OLED S foldable display from Samsung Display

Competition will intensify in the global smartphone OLED panel market as Chinese companies are speeding up their penetration of the market with low-cost products, challenging Samsung Display’s dominance.

Smartphone OLED panel shipments will reach 812 million units in 2022, said Omdia, a market research company. This is an increase of 38.8 percent compared to the expected shipments of 585 million units in 2021.

In particular, as Apple adopted OLED panels instead of LCD panels starting from the iPhone 12 series in 2020, the use of OLED panels has surged. Recently, Chinese display companies are entering the small and medium OLED panel market, increasing the supply of low-priced panels.

Omdia is estimating that Apple will use the largest number of OLED panels for smartphones next year. It is expected to use 169 million OLED panels in 2021 and 190 million OLED panels next year. It is likely to use OLED panels for new products that are scheduled to be released in the second half of 2021.

Samsung Electronics is expected to use 155 million sheets in 2021 and 168 million sheets next year, the second largest after Apple.

Although Samsung Display is expected to maintain its No. 1 position in the global smartphone OLED panel market next year, its market share is expected to shrink due to Chinese companies’ pursuit. In fact, according to Omdia, Samsung Display's market share fell from 86 percent in 2019 to 78 percent in 2020. Omdia forecast that its market share will shrink to 77 percent in 2021 and 65 percent next year.

On the other hand, the market share of Chinese companies is expected to grow from 15 percent in 2021 to 27 percent in 2022. In particular, BOE, China's largest display company, is expected to expand its market share from 6 percent in 2021 to 13 percent in 2022.

"Chinese display companies are advancing their technical skills," Omdia said. "China will pose a big threat to Korea's leadership in the OLED market."

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