Worldwide revenue from organic light emitting diode (OLED) increased only increased 0.7% in 2020, according to market research firm UBI Research.

This was due to price drops of smartphone OLED panels, which cause revenue increase to be less than shipment increase, the firm said.

Global OLED revenue hit US$32.68 billion in 2020, the firm said.

Unit prices of OLED panels used by Apple in iPhones and Samsung in the Galaxy S20 series dropped compared to 2019. OLED panel shipment of Chinese panel companies induced price drops of OLED panels made by Samsung Display, UBI Research said.

Meanwhile, shipment of OLED panels reached 577.88 million units last year, an increase of 3.7% from 2019. Shipment of OLED panels for smart watches, foldable OLED panels and WRGB OLED panels for TV increased, the firm said.

Shipment of OLED panels used in smartphones and tablets, in turn, dropped. OLED panels for automobiles and notebooks shipped for the first time in 2020.

Samsung Display’s revenue from OLED panels dropped 15.8% to US$22.3 billion. Its smartphone OLED panel shipment dropped 9.3% to 390 million units.

The company’s market share dropped from 81.6% in 2019 to 68.2% in 2019.

LG Display’s revenue from OLED panels was US$6.87 billion in 2020. It saw market share increase from 10.5% in 2019 to 21% in 2020. This is thanks to its supply of OLED panels to Apple and increased shipment of OLED panels for TVs.

The combined market share of the two Korean companies dropped from 92.1% in 2019 to 89.3% in 2020.

BOE recorded sales of US$1.86 billion from OLED panels last year. Its market share increased from 3.4% in 2019 to 5.7% in 2020.

Source: THEELEC