According to UBI Research
Chinese smartphone makers are increasing their use of OLED panels despite the COVID-19 pandemic and US sanctions, market research firm UBI Research said on Tuesday.
A total of 57 smartphones that use OLED was launched in China in the first quarter of 2021, the firm said.
This was double the 27 models launched in the same time period a year ago.
Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi were launching new OLED smartphones to fill the vacuum left by Huawei from US sanctions, UBI Research said.
Chinese panel makers are seeing their OLED sales increase from the uptick.
Smartphone OLED sales reached US$990 million in the first quarter, an increase of 38.3% year-on-year.
The growth was thanks to more Chinese panel makers manufacturing high resolution OLED panels, which increased unit prices.
However, Chinese panel makers’ use of organic material didn’t increase as much.
UBI Research said this was thanks to the improved yield rate of the Chinese panel companies. They are using the same materials to manufacture more panels, the firm said.
Last year, 13.8 metric tonnes of organic light emitting material was used.
More Chinese smartphones are launching mid- to high-tier smartphones.
Chinese panel makers are also developing and manufacturing their own foldable OLED panels.
Huawei and Xiaomi are using foldable OLED panels from BOE and CSOT, respectively, for their foldable smartphones.
