Market updates - Page 31

DSCC updated their display industry forecasts, saying that as LCD prices continue to fall it revises the capacity forecast downward by 6% as Display makers are delaying and cancelling LCD investments. DSCC's OLED capacity forecast is also reduced by 4% - and is now growing at a CAGR of 19% from 2016 to 2025 (the main reason is the cancellation of Visionox V2 phase 2 and LGD's E6 Phase 3).

DSCC says that OLED TV roadmap is still not clear as Chinese makers are not ready to commit to OLED TV production. DSCC does see next-generation TV capacity coming online in the future - which could be inkjet-printed OLEDs, OVJP, MicroLEDs and other potential technologies. But the next-generation display market is certainly not clear yet and DSCC sees an extended forecast during which demand will outpace supply (especially as average TV size continues to grow).

Counterpoint Research estimates that OLED smartphone sales will reach 600 million units next year, as phone makers adopt OLED displays in more mid-range and low-end devices.

Counterpoint says that OLED penetration in Samsung devices will surge from 45% in 2019 to 71% in 2020. Both Apple and Oppo will use OLED displays in 50% of their phones next year.

IHS Markit says that smartphone AMOLED shipments reached 146 million in Q3 2019 - a record high, and up from 93 million in the second quarter. LTPS LCD shipments reached 144 million - and this is the first quarter in which AMOLED shipments surpassed LTPS LCD shipments. a-SI LCD is still the leading technology with shipments of 177 million.

Following the increased demand for AMOLED displays, Samsung Display regained its leading position in the market (with a 29% market share), replacing BOE. The third largest suppler is Tianma.

Motorola says that due to unexpected high demand, it is delaying the launch of its $1,500 foldable OLED phone, the Razr 2019. The company did not announce a new launch date (previously it was December 26th) but says that the company "does not anticipate a significant shift from our original availability timeline".

Motorola says that "Since its announcement in November, the new motorola razr has received unparalleled excitement and interest from consumers. Demand has been high, and as a result, has quickly outgrown supply predictions".

IHS Markit says that rigid AMOLED is the leading smartwatch display technology, with a market share of 36% (in Q4 2019) - up from a market share of only 14% in the beginning of 2019. Rigid AMOLEDs enjoy the fastest growth of all display technologies.

All OLED displays together (PMOLED, AMOLED and flexible OLEDs) take up a market share of 69%. The market share of PMOLED displays shrunk from 51% in 2018 to 19% in 2019 as rigid AMOLEDs starts to be adopted where PMOLED displays once were. To learn more about the PMOLED market and its future, see our PMOLED Market Report.

Visionox announced that it is supplying the highly-curved 2.07" 326 PPI 430 nits AMOLED display for Huami's next-generation Amazfit X smartwatch, which will be released in Q1 2020.

Huami, which is a subsidiary of Xiaomi, is enjoying great success with its wearable devices. In 2018 it has shipped 27.5 million smartwatches - surpassing even Apple. This could be an excellent design win for Visionox.

IHS Markit says that the automotive OLED market is set for fast growth - from around $20 million in 2019 (almost all from PMOLED displays) to over $360 million in 2020 and almost $4.5 billion in 2026.

It seems as if IHS believes that AMOLED displays will finally penetrate the automotive market in 2020. Currently the only company that adopted AMOLEDs in its automobiles is Audi, and this is only in premium cars and niche applications.

Taiwan-based PMOLED display maker RiTDisplay's CEO says that the company's PMOLED sales has been affected by e-cigarette bans in the US, and the company is now shifting its focus to develop micro LED displays (and also mini-LED ones). RiTDisplay's revenues in 2019 to date, $47.1 million USD, decreased 32.4% compared to last year.

In May 2019 RiTDisplay announced a strategic partnership and share swap with Taiwan-based MicroLED developer PlayNitride. As part of the partnership, RiTDisplay gained access to PlayNitride's technology and is able to produce and sell micro-LED panel based on this technology and IP.

Samsung Display says that the surge of 5G-enabled smartphones will greatly benefit its OLED display business.

Samsung says that 5G networks are expected to increase demand for smartphones in general. In addition, the thin form factor of OLED displays (compared to LCDs) enable smartphone makers to use more space for more sensors and larger batteries - which may be needed to support 5G networks.

LG Electronics says that it shipped over 5 million OLED TVs since it began offering OLED TVs in 2013. LGE's OLED TV sales are accelerating and it is currently shipping an average of 100,000 OLED TVs each month.

According to earlier reports LGE has asked LGD to provide it with 2.5 million OLED TV panels in 2020. LGE's is the world's leader in OLED TVs, but it is not alone - there are 15 brands that currently offer OLED TVs, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Skyworth and Hisense.