According to reports in China, strong demand for flexible AMOLED panels for high-end smartphones, have resulted in an increase of panel price. This has caused smartphone makers to adopt more rigid AMOLED panels in their budget smartphones.
The report suggests that Samsung Display is especially enjoying an increase in sales of its rigid AMOLED panels to smartphone makers in China - mainly OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi. These smartphone makers are replacing LCD displays with Samsung's rigid AMOLEDs - as the price difference is currently quite small.
There are also two rigid AMOLED makers in China - Everdisplay and Visionox, but Samsung is the clear leader in this market segment and is able to producer high-end displays at high volumes - and at relatively low cost.
This is an interesting turn of events, as in the past analysts estimated that the demand for rigid AMOLEDs will decline as flexible OLEDs has many benefits (including flexibility, of course, and lower weight and thickness). Earlier this year we reported that Samsung Electronics is also increasing the adoption of rigid AMOLED displays in its budget smartphones.
It is estimated that this year the market share of OLED smartphone displays will reach over 50%, the first time that AMOLED will become the most popular smartphone display technology, replacing LCDs after many years.
