Sales of middle to large sized OLED panels in the first quarter of 2021 surged 156% from a year prior, according to market research firm UBI Research.
The firm calculated the sales of OLED panels sized 10-inch or larger used in TVs, monitors, notebooks and tablets.
Sales for these panels reached US$1.45 billion in the quarter, a 156.3% increase year-on-year and 16.9% increase from the previous quarter.
TV and notebook OLED panels were the biggest contributor to the growth.
TV OLED panels shipment reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter. Notebook OLED panels’ hit 1.1 million units.
Image retention was a big concern for notebook OLEDs as PCs have many icons but Samsung Display developed a panel that overcomes this obstacle and have been promoting them since last year, UBI Research said.
Out of the total middle to large sized OLED sales, TV accounted for 81.6% while notebook accounted for 8.3%.
Shipment of OLED panels smaller than 10-inch was 140 million units during the quarter. This was an increase of 32.4% from a year prior. It was a drop of 13.5% from the fourth quarter, however. The panels are used in smartphones, foldable phones and smartwatches.
OLED shipment in the first quarter of 2020 dropped for the COVID-19 pandemic. For the fourth quarter of the same year, Apple’s launch of iPhone 12 helped OLED shipment.
For small OLED panels, Samsung Display controlled a 79% market share during the quarter, followed by LG Display’s 11.3%.
