The market share of Samsung Display's small and medium-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED), which maintains a "super-gap", is expected to fall under 90% in the first quarter of this year.
Market researcher, IHS Markits predicted that Samsung Display's market share in the smartphone OLED panel market will be recorded at 81% in the 1st quarter of this year. This is the first time that the quarterly market share has fallen below 90%. By month, 89% was the first in October last year. Since then, it has not recovered more than 90%.
Last year, Samsung Display OLED panel shipments were 377 million units. It decreased 2% from the same period a year earlier. IHS Markit said, "Although two types of new iPhones were adopted with OLED panels, Samsung Display's performance have fallen.” and analyzed “The decline in the market share is due to increased shipments of Chinese panel makers."
While Samsung Display is struggling, OLED panel shipment volume of China’s BOE increased by 3322% from the previous year to 3.3 million units. The industry analysis indicates that monthly OLED panel shipments are more than 1 million units this year. Following with this trend, it is a matter of time to achieve 10 million units. This year, the new plant, B11 will be operated. Even considering the initial yield, shipments are expected to increase three times more than in 2018.
In addition to BOE, China Star (CSOT), Tianma, and Visionox have been taking aggressive steps toward expanding OLED panel shipments. In the mid to long-term, the IHS Markit expects that Samsung Display OLED panel market shares may fall further. Meanwhile, LG Display OLED panel shipments last year were 7.5 million units. This is a 172% increase from the same period a year earlier. However, since the end of 2018, monthly shipments have started to decline. It is certain that this year's annual shipments will fall behind the BOE.
An industry official analyzed, "The small and medium-sized OLED market also begins to be closely followed by China."
