Foldable OLEDs: introduction and market status - Page 7

According to reports in Korea, HP has decided to launch a foldable OLED laptop by the end of the year. HP will source 17-inch 4K in-folding OLED panels from LG Display.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold

The Elec suggests that LGD will start mass producing the 17-inch panels in Q3, with plans to produce around 10,000 units.

UBI Research estimates that shipments of small-sizes (under 10-inch) AMOLED displays reached 746 million in 2021, up 34.4% from 2020 (555 million units). UBI says the market was driven by increased Apple iPhone sales and increased adoption of foldable OLED panels.

In terms of revenues, the market increased by 43.9% from $26.5 billion in 2020 to $38.1 billion in 2021.

DSCC estimates that just over 10 million foldable OLED displays shipped in 2022, and the market is set to grow to 86 million units by 2026 (54% CAGR).

DSCC says that foldable smartphone revenues rose 342% in 2021, and have reached $5.8 billion. The most popular foldable smartphone was the Galaxy Z Flip 3 (51% market share in 2021), followed by the Galaxy Z Fold 3 (26% market share) and the Huawei Mate X2 (6% market share).

BOE demonstrated new foldable OLED prototypes, which it calls the f-OLED N-shaped folding display. The new displays by BOE can be folded both inwardly and outwardly, which allows BOE to present a unique form factor:

BOE's new display is 12.3" in size, and when full folded (two folds) it turns into a 5.6-inch form-factor device. BOE developed a novel hinge system that allows for sliding compensation which improves the strength of the display module. BOE tested the new display for up to 200,000 inward folding cycles and 100,000 outward folding cycles.

IDC estimates that 7.1 million foldable smartphones shipped in 2021, an increase of 264% over 2020 (1.9 million units). IDC estimates that the market will grow to 27.6 million units by 2025 (a CAGR of 69.9%).

Most of the growth in 2021 came from Samsung's Galaxy Flip3 which was a success in the market thanks to its compact size and price tag ($999).

DSCC has released its latest OLED market forecast, and the company forecasts a 8% CAGR revenue growth, with the market reaching $64 billion in revenue in 2026. The growth will be fueled by high demand for laptop, monitor and tablet displays. The smartphone and OLED TV market will also continue to grow.

DSCC sees a 31% CAGR shipment growth for laptop displays, to reach around $2.4 billion in 2026, and a 95% CAGR unit growth for monitor OLED displays, which will reach $1.3 billion in 2026 (up from $200 million in 2022). This is fast growth for monitor OLED displays, but slower than DSCC previously estimated, due to competition for miniLEDs, rigid OLED capacity that will be used for laptops and tablets and lower demand to mirroring display monitors.

At CES 2022, TCL unveiled a new clamshell foldable phone concept it refers to as TCL Flex V, which the company hopes to commercialize with a relatively low price tag of around $600-$700.

This seems to be an early stage project, but the current prototype shown at CES used an OLED display that looks to be around 6-inch size with a resolution of 1080x2400. There's also a small external display for when the phone is closed. The phone has a Snapdragon 765G chipset and dual cameras on the back.

Samsung Display showed new foldable and rollable OLED device prototypes at CES 2022, using the new Flex branding it launched in November 2021.

So first up with have the Flex Slidable, which is a smartphone type device that opens up to a wider display. The second display is the Flex S which is a foldable device that folds twice, once inwardly and once outwardly, in an "S" shape.

As demand for foldable phones is increasing, Samsung Display is reportedly planning to add three more module production lines in Vietnam to expand its capacity. Once these three new lines are added, SDC will have 10 foldable OLED module production lines in Vietnam.

SDC's current monthly foldable OLED module production capacity is around 1.5 million units, and these new lines will expand SDC's capacity to 2 million units. SDC expects to install the new equipment in 2022. This will help the company reach its target of 18 million foldable OLED panel shipments next year.

DSCC says that Q3 2021 was a record quarter for foldable smartphones - with shipments growing 215% from Q2 2021 and 480% from Q3 2020 to reach 2.6 million units. Samsung Electronics controls the market with a 93% share, followed by Huawei (6%).

DSCC expects the growth to continue and shipments in Q4 will reach almost 4 million units. Looking at specific models, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 has a 60% share, followed by the Galaxy Z Fold 3 with a 23% share.