IHS says that demand for flexible AMOLED displays is growing at a slower pace than expected - and also at a slower rate than its supply, and as a result the demand in 2018 will be 44% lower than the supply.
IHS says that flexible OLED capacity will grow 100% in 2018 (to reach 4.4 million square meters), but demand will only grow 70% (to 2.4 million square meters). IHS says that the high price of flexible OLEDs caused smartphone makers to opt for either rigid (glass-based) OLEDs or LCDs in their 2018 models. IHS estimates that the price gap between a flexible OLED and a rigid OLED on the same 6-Gen line is about 50%.
IHS says that second-tier flexible OLED makers will find the situation especially bad in 2018 and face seriously low fab utilization, as smartphone brands only adopt flexible OLEDs in the highest-end products and these opt for the best flexible AMOLEDs on the market (made by SDC).
