Growth of OLED TV Market to Accelerate in 2022
Samsung Electronics, the No. 1 player in the global TV market, is speeding up its transition to OLED TVs, fueling expectations for a rapid expansion of the OLED TV market in 2022.
According to market research firm Omdia, QD-LCD TV sales are expected to fall 3.1 percent to US$17.674 billion (about 21 trillion won) in 2022, marking the first time that annual QD-LCD TV sales decrease. QD-LCD panels go into Samsung Electronics’ premium Neo QLED TVs.
QD-LCD panels outclass LCD panels in colors, brightness, and contrast ratios, but no structural difference exist between the two. QD-LCD panels do not show a significant improvement from LCD panels in terms of dark color expression and color reproduction rates. LCD panels have limitations in dark color expression and color reproduction rates.
Under these circumstances, LCD panel prices have been halved as demand for LCD TVs have shrunken since late 2021.
On the other hand, demand for OLED TV panels is on a steady rise. LG Display is currently the only producer of OLED TV panels. Its annual OLED panel shipments grew 65 percent on year to 7.4 million units in 2021. OLED TVs are expected to account for 12.7 percent of the entire TV market in 2022, Omdia said in a report.
Omdia predicted that the proportion of OLED TVs in the high-priced TV market will grow from 35.7 percent in 2021 to 42.1 percent in 2022. This is in contrast to a forecast that the proportion of QD-LCD TVs will fall from 39 percent to 37.8 percent during the same period.
As Samsung Electronics will release OLED TVs in 2022, OLED TVs’ market penetration will accelerate. Samsung Electronics is expected to release its first OLED TV between May and June in 2022.
Samsung Electronics is also about to release OLED TVs loaded with panels from LG Display. “Samsung Electronics is expected to use 1.5 million OLED panels from LG Display and 500,000 QD display panels from Samsung Display,” said an industry insider. “A transition to OLED TVs has become inevitable in the TV industry.”