Smartphone and foldable OLED shipments expected to exceed 700 million units in 2025

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At UBI Research’s ‘2021 OLED settlement seminar for the second half of the year’ held on the 19th, UBI Research CEO Choong-Hoon Yi gave a presentation on the settlement of small/mid-large OLED industry and future market prospects.

CEO Yi said, “The total sales of OLED for mobile devices in the third quarter was $10.3 billion, up 23.6% from the second quarter and 64.1% from the same period last year. OLED for phones grew to a meaningful number for the first time to $540 million in the third quarter.”

According to the announcement by CEO Yi, the total shipment of smartphones and foldable phones in the third quarter was 167 million, up 22.7% from the previous quarter and 55.3% from the same period of the previous year. “The smartphone market contracted in 2020 due to the spread of Corona 19 and sanctions by Huawei, but the market is growing out of this situation in 2021 thanks to the popularity of Apple’s iPhone 12,” said CEO Yi.

Comparing OLED shipments for smartphones in the third quarter by panel maker, Samsung Display took 72.9%, followed by BOE and LG Display with 9.4% and 5.8%, respectively. CEO Yi mentioned, “Samsung Display maintained 80% level just a year ago, but BOE is gradually gaining strength as BOE’s production lines are being prepared step by step.” and “In terms of sales, Samsung Display accounted for 79.0%, which is higher than the shipment share, and BOE, 8.8%, which is lower than the shipment share. This result appears because the panels of Samsung Display and LG Display are sold to Apple at the highest price.”

Next, CEO Yi predicted, “In terms of OLED shipments by country, Korea dominates the market with 78.7%, but the Chinese market, which currently accounts for 21.3%, will gradually grow and the shipments of the two countries will become similar in about five years.” He also predicted, “In order for the industry to grow, the top-level set makers in the supply chain are important, and based on China’s numerous set makers and the large domestic market, it is highly likely that the leadership will be transferred to China in about five years.”

In the smartphone market forecast analysis, CEO Yi said, “In 2021, OLED shipments for smartphones and foldable phones are expected to reach 580 million units, and the market will grow by 100 million units in the next two years, reaching 600 million units in 2023 and 700 million units in 2025. We will overcome it,” he predicted.