LG Display's Dominance in OLED TV Panel Market Continuing
Market research firm Omdia said on April 11 that OLED TVs accounted for 38.9 percent of LG Electronics’ total TV sales in the fourth quarter of 2021. This was an all-time high and nearly double the 20.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Strong OLED TV sales boosted LG Electronics' share of the global TV market in terms of sales revenue to an all-time high of 18.5 percent in 2021. The figure is meaningful in that it was achieved by expanding sales of top-tier premium TV models.
Stock market analysts are predicting that LG Electronics’ OLED TV sales in 2022 will reach 5 million units, an increase of more than 20 percent compared to 2021. Accordingly, they say that the proportion of OLED TV sales in LG’s TV sales in 2022 will exceed 40 percent.
The expansion of premium OLED TV models is pushing up LG Electronics’ sales and operating profit. In 2021, LG’s HE Business Division in charge of the TV business logged annual sales of 17,218.6 billion won, up 30.6 percent from 13,183.6 billion won in the previous year. During the same period, the company’s operating profit also rose 18 percent to 1,099.8 billion won.
LG Electronics’ HE Business Division racked up 4 trillion-plus won in quarterly sales for five consecutive quarters from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021. It is expected to post sales in the mid-4 trillion range in the first quarter of 2022.
At LG Display, which supplies OLED panels to 20 TV manufacturers around the world, OLED panels accounted for over 40 percent of total sales in 2021. LG Display posted 29,087.8 billion won in sales and 2,230.6 billion won in operating profit in 2021 thanks to the growth of its large OLED panel business. Its sales grew by 23.1 percent compared to the previous year and its operating profit turned to the black.
LG Display’s share of the global TV display market stood at 23.8 percent in terms of sales revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021. It surpassed BOE's 20.6 percent, returning to the top spot again in one year. LG Display’s OLED TV panel sales started with 200,000 units in the first year of mass production, and exceeded 10 million units cumulatively in early 2020, seven years after the beginning of their mass production. LG Display’s large OLED panel shipments are expected to exceed 10 million units in 2022.
LG Display is expected to continue to dominate the OLED panel market for the time being. Samsung Display began mass-producing QD displays at the end of 2021, but the company’s yield and production volume are not yet sufficient. Omdia estimates Samsung Display’s QD display shipments in 2022 at 1.25 million units, much smaller than LG Display's 10 million units.