AMOLED boosts Q2 OLED display shipments

With the release of the highly anticipated active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays, the OLED segment continues to flourish in Q2, posting unit shipments of 19.8 million, up 24 percent y-o-y and revenues of $123.4 million, up 13 percent y-o-y—even as ASPs fell 9 percent q-o-q. This is according to the Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report published by DisplaySearch.

Over the last year, main display shipments were up 16 percent, sub-displays up 77 percent, car audio displays up 35 percent and industrial displays up 295 percent, according to DisplaySearch.

"As OLED displays become more prevalent in key small/medium display applications like mobile phone main displays and sub-displays, MP3s and automotive consoles, they become increasingly competitive with LCDs—offering advantages in image quality, viewing angle, form factor, response time and higher contrast ratio—contributing to a premium over like-size TFT LCDs of 75 percent to over 100 percent," said Barry Young, senior VP, DisplaySearch.

Young added, "Over the next year, we are expecting revenues to grow by 117 percent due to the introduction of AMOLED displays for mobile phone main displays and digital cameras plus the added number of suppliers, including TPO, LG.Philips LCD and Casio."

Based on the report, AMOLED displays are beginning to impact the market, as Samsung SDI moves into full production, and Chi Mei and LG Electronics begin to ship qualification units. Sony is also expected to begin shipping its 11-inch AMOLED TV display in Q4.

Market displays
The top five OLED manufacturers, composed of Samsung SDI, Pioneer, RiTdisplay, LGE and TDK, accounted for a combined market share of 85.4 percent. For the first time in several quarters, two companies carved a niche in the PMOLED market, Visionox and Truly, which are both from China. Next quarter, MED is expected to begin production of microdisplays and will be the first OLED competitor for eMagin.

Volume shipments of AMOLED displays continued to grow in Q2. Overall, Pioneer led in units shipped with 5.1 million, closely followed by RiTdisplay at 4.8 million, Samsung SDI at 3.7 million, LGE at 3.1 million and TDK at 1.3 million units. Also of note, LGE will not ship any passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) displays in Q3, as the company is converting to AMOLED production.

Table 1: Top five OLED manufacturers' Q2 revenue market share and growth.

In terms of applications, sub-displays and MP3 player displays continue to account for about 88 percent of OLED shipments at 14.1 million and 3.5 million, respectively. Meanwhile, main displays and industrial applications also showed strong growth, as volume continued to grow.

Table 2: Top five Q2 OLED applications.

Sub-display volume is very strong in Japan and is the major cause of the growth in the category. Main display growth is primarily due to the strength of Samsung SDI, which has main display shipments to Kyocera, Nokia and other Japanese mobile phone makers.