According to a report released by market research firm IHS Markit, OLED panels accounted for more than 61% of the global smartphone display panel market (by revenue) in the third quarter of 2018. Samsung occupies 93.3% of the entire market and is a hegemon.
In the third quarter of 2018, smartphone display sales increased to $10.7 billion, of which 61.1% ($6.6 billion) were OLED panels. In contrast, in the first quarter of last year, OLEDs accounted for only 35% of the market.
For nearly a decade, Samsung has been using OLED displays in smartphones. In the past few years, major smartphone companies have also adopted OLED screens for their flagship models. Therefore, the demand for OLED panels is growing rapidly. Samsung not only uses OLED display panels in its own products but also supplies it to other companies, including Apple. So it’s quite logical it has a leading position in the market. However, this may change next year because LG is expecting to supply OLED panels to the Cupertino-based company soon.
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Samsung’s dominance is not only on OLED panels. It accounts for 57.8% of the total smartphone display market revenue, including LCD panels. China’s BOE and Tianma are behind with 7.8% and 7.7%, respectively. The demand for flexible OLED displays is now very high, and Samsung has almost monopolized this market segment as well. It should be noted that in the third quarter of 2018, Samsung accounted for 94.2% of the flexible OLED panel market.
By the way, Samsung is preparing to launch a foldable smartphone next year, and the company may launch its first 4K OLED notebook early next year.
