China Predicted to Overtake South Korea in Flexible OLED Market in Five Years

Market research firm DSCC reported on Jan. 21 that the global flexible OLED market share of the top two Chinese display manufacturers is forecast to exceed that of the top two South Korean display manufacturers in 2025.

In 2016, Samsung Display and LG Display accounted for 87 percent and 13 percent of the market, respectively. However, Chinese display manufacturers have rapidly increased their market share since 2019. The size of the market is expected to grow from US$18.29 billion to US$32.7 billion from 2019 to 2023.

Last year, Samsung Display accounted for 60 percent of the market, followed by LG Display (16 percent), BOE (15 percent), Visionox (3 percent) and CSOT (2 percent). The market shares of BOE, LG Display and Samsung Display for this year are estimated at 23 percent, 15 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

In addition, those of BOE, Visionox and CSOT are estimated to reach 28 percent, 11 percent and 10 percent in 2022 with those of Tianma, Samsung Display and LG Display at 4 percent, 33 percent and 11 percent, respectively. BOE and CSOT are expected to account for 30 percent and 12 percent of the market in 2025 with those of Samsung Display and LG Display standing at 31 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

China is home to a number of leading smartphone manufacturers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, and they tend to prefer displays manufactured by Chinese companies. If China overtakes South Korea in the flexible OLED as well as LCD market, South Korean display manufacturers’ additional investment may be significantly reduced to the point of losing competitiveness.

South Korean companies are working on various measures to stay ahead of their Chinese counterparts. For example, Samsung Display is planning to release quantum dot display products in the high-end large-screen display market and Samsung Electronics is increasing its investment in future display technologies such as micro LED. LG Display is aiming to increase its automotive display sales to at least two trillion won next year and make its large-screen OLED business more profitable by putting new facilities into operation in Guangzhou, China.