LG pOLED: introduction and market status - Page 2

Towards the end of 2020, Merck announced that it is expanding its OLED material production site in Korea. The company today announced that HTM production commenced at the site.

Merck is already supplying HTM (Hole Transport Materials) to LGD, to be used in large OLED TV production. Merck is now starting to supply HTM materials for LGD's mobile p-OLED displays as well.

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billion, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billow, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

Market research company Omdia estimates that LG Display held a 92.5% share in the automotive AMOLED panel market in 2020, in terms of sales. Samsung Displays accounted for 6.9% and BOE 0.6%.

LG 12.8-inch P-OLED in Mercedes Benz 2021 S-Class

OMDIA estimates that the total AMOLED automotive market in 2020 was 240,000 units, and says that the market will experience a fast growth of 60% CAGR to reach 4.4 million units in 2025.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q4 2020. Revenues reached $6 billion USD, up 11% from Q3 2020 and 16% from Q4 2019. Net profits jumped to $555 million, up from $10 million in Q3 2020 and a loss of $1.6 billion in Q4 2019.

LG Display says that demand for TV and IT products remained strong as the global work-from-home situation continued. Shipments of OLED TV panels and p-OLED smartphone panels increased meaningfully.

Omdia says that in 2020, LG Display's OLED TV sales surpassed LGD's LCD TV sales, for the first time. LGD's OLED TV sales were 53% of the company's total TV sales (up from 33% in 2019).

Omdia says that it expects LG's total OLED display sales (including TVs, mobiles and automotive displays) to reach 10 trillion Won in 2021 (around $9.15 billion USD).

LG Display reported its financial results for Q3 2020, with a net profit (of $9.8 million) - which was the company's first profitable quarter since 2018. Revenues in the quarter were $5.9 billion, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 16% from Q3 2019.

LG Display says that its turnaround was due to increased demand for IT displays and OLED displays - both OLED TV panels and flexible OLEDs for smartphones. Profitability was also assisted by the mass production that finally began at LGD's new OLED TV fab in Guangzhou. Next year LGD says it aims to ship over 7 million OLED TV panels.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q2 2020 - with revenues up 12% over last quarter, as the company enjoyed an increase in demand for IT panels (monitors, notebooks, tablets). But lower demand for TVs and lower utilization at its POLED fabs increased LGD's operating loss.

LG Display says it expects its Q3 revenues and operation profit to improve - as mass production of OLED TV panels in Guangzhou finally started, and the company will ship pOLED panels to Apple's iPhone 12 in the next quarter. LG maintains its 4.5-5 million OLED TV panel shipment forecast for the whole of 2020.

The Elec reports that Apple ordered around 55 million AMOLED panels for its iPhone 12 smartphone series, which will be announced later this year. LG Display will supply around around 20 million AMOLEDs - which is a big increase from the 5 million OLEDs LGD supplied for Apple's previous generation phones.

According to The Elec, LG will supply the panels for Apple's iPhone 12 Max (6.1"), while Samsung will supply all the panels for the iPhone 12 (5.4"), iPhone 12 Pro (6.1") and iPhone 12 Pro max (6.7").

DSCC posted an interesting blog post, in which they detail what they believe to be Apple's iPhone 12 smartphone family specifications.

So we start with the iPhone 12, which will use a 5.42" 2348x1048 (476 PPI) flexible AMOLED display, produced by Samsung Display. DSCC believes the iPhone 12 will use a Y-OCTA integrated touch. DSCC believes that while BOE did not manage to get its panel to the iPhone 12, it may become a supplier in 2021 to the iPhone 12s - if all goes well with the iPhone 12 Max (see below).

LG Display reported its financial results for Q1 2020. LGD's revenues were 4.7 trillion Won ($3.8 billion USD), decreased 26% from the previous quarter and 20% from Q1 2019. The company's net loss in the quarter was 199 billion Won ($161 million USD).

LGD's revenues and earnings were below analysts expectations - the company's business was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic which caused lower demand for smartphones and TV panels (which were also hit due to the postponing of major sporting events). LCD panel prices have also taken a hit.