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Foldable Phones Predicted to Exceed 100 Million Units by 2026

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According to UBI Research’s “1Q22 Small OLED Display Market Track” Small OLED Display (10-inches or smaller watch, smartphone, foldable phone, etc.) shipment in 2021 was 746 million, a 34.4% increase from the previous year’s 555 million. The reason for the increase in shipments compared to 2020 can be attributed to the increased sales of iPhone 12, iPhone13, and the unexpectedly strong sales of Galaxy Z’s Fold 3 and Flip 3.

Compared to the previous year, Small OLED sales in 2021 was up from $26.5 billion to $38.1 billion, a 43.9% increase.

Graphs are categorized by application product; Watch, Smartphone, Foldable Phone.

Since 2019, foldable phones have been on an upward trend. The market for foldable phones in 2021 exceeded 10 million units, accounting for 1.4% of all small displays. It is predicted that foldable phones’ yearly upward trend will result in exceeding 100 million units by 2026, accounting for 9.7% of all small displays.

“1Q 2022, Small OLED Display Market Track” analyzes the production capacity for 10-inches or smaller OLED Displays. Quarterly sales market and shipment market were investigated by these categories; major panel makers, country, generation, substrate, TFT technology (LTPO and LTPS), and by application products (watch, smartphone, foldable phone).

An analysis of ASP and OLED supply/demand by application is also provided. Small OLED Display market forecast data is predicted until 2026 on Excel.

Apple adopts LTPO TFT to extend battery life time to Apple Watch Series 4

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Reporter & Analyst : Daejeong Yoon

Apple released its Apple Watch Series 4 with enhanced healthcare features on a larger screen than before, in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in California, USA on September 12.

<Apple Watch Series 4, Source: Apple.com>

In this announcement, Apple brought Apple watch series 4 with a new technology called LTPO to improve power efficiency.

LTPO stands for low temperature polycrystalline oxide. It is a kind of TFT using only the advantages of poly-Si with good charge mobility and IGZO with low power driving. LTPO TFTs have low leakage current and good on / off characteristics, which lowers power consumption and increases battery life.

<Apple’s LTPO TFT patent>

In addition, Apple increased the size of its Apple Watch 4 to 40mm and 44mm. The edge-to-edge screen is 35% and 32% larger than previous models by narrowing the bezel compared to previous models. The screen resolution was 368×448 pixels for the 44mm model and 324×394 pixels for the 40mm model. The display of Apple Watch4 is a plastic OLED made by LG Display with a maximum brightness of 1,000 nit. The Apple Watch Series 4 starts at US$399 for GPS model, while the cellular model starts at US$499. The Apple Watch Series 4 is available for pre-order from Septmber14 in the U.S. with the availability beginning September 21.

H1 2016 OLED Wearable, Disappeared Smartwatch and Rising VR ∙ Smartband

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bungee jump with Gear VR (Source = Samsung)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Unlike the same period last year, H1 2016 showed quiet smartwatch sector while VR (virtual reality) device and smartband became popular.

According to UBI Research, of OLED wearable device revealed in H1 2016, 6 are VR devices (OLED display is either directly equipped to the device or OLED smartphone can be connected) and 4 are smartbands. In H1 2015, there were 5 OLED smartwatches and 3 OLED smartbands. The difference between almost no smartwatches in H1 2016 is evident.

In VR sector, Oculus began the announcements with Samsung Display’s OLED equipped Oculus Rift in January. Following this, other companies such as Sony, HTC, and DeePoon revealed new products in international exhibitions. Samsung Electronics recently showed Gear VR that can be paired with Galaxy Note 7 in New York, and VR is expected to maintain its popularity in Q3.

In H1 2016, smartband stimulated the market with Samsung Electronics’ Gear Fit 2, Xiaomi’s Mi Band 2, and Fitbit’s Alta.

However, the only new OLED smartwatch product announced in H1 2016 was China’s GEAK’s GEAK Watch 3, and it was not even released in the market. The reason for the slump in the smartwatch market has been noted to be short battery life, and lack of useful applications. However, as Samsung Electronics and Apple are expected to announce new smartwatch products in Q3, renewed enthusiasm is anticipated.

Samsung’s Gear 3 is expected to be revealed in IFA 2016 in Berlin in September. Apple is also rumored to be announcing Apple Watch in September. Apple has already revealed smartwatch operating system Watch OS3 with improved speed and function in June.

2016 Apple Watch Shipment to Fall by More than 25%…Watch Market, Below Expectations

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Apple Watch(Source=Apple)

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

With the trend of smartwatch market’s below expectation growth, some believe that this year’s Apple Watch shipment volume will decrease by 25% or more compared to last year.

On 19 April, international media such as OLED-a reported this citing KGI investment. KGI’s research estimates that 10,600,000 units of Apple Watch were sold in 2015, and forecast that much reduced 7,500,000 units or less will be sold this year. What is worse, last year’s sales volume is the total of 8 months sales, and this year’s forecast volume is for 12 months.

KGI suggested 2 reasons for this decrease.

First, this is because the wearable device market is still an immature one, formed not too long ago.

Second, the product itself still has many flaws. Also, of the wearable applications, there is a lack of killer application that pulls in consumers. Hardware also needs further improvements. Short battery lifetime and iPhone dependent functions are analyzed to be factors preventing the demand increase.

KGI forecasts the mass production of the next Apple Watch will begin in Q3 2016. Some estimates that the next product will be released before that in June this year. However, this product is more of an S model upgrade with few changes to the existing product. KGI estimated that the demand improvement will take place when 2017 product, the new product after this one is released.

Much like the not so optimistic forecast of Apple Watch, the smartwatch market growth is also not meeting the expectations. In 2016 Wearable Smart Device International Forum and Exhibition held in Seoul hosted by Korean Display Industry Association, IDTechEX’s analyst James Hayward explained that smartwatch market is growing at below expectations, and it is estimated that eye wear market, such as AR and VR, will have greater growth rather than watch.