OLED displays find success in mobile phones

DisplaySearch has released its latest Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report with the news that worldwide OLED revenue has set a new record. Q2 09 revenue reached $192 million, up 32 percent q-on-q and 22 percent y-on-y. DisplaySearch forecasts the total OLED display market will grow to $6.2 billion by 2016 from $0.6 billion in 2008, with a CAGR of 33 percent. Mobile phone main displays will continue to drive the growth with revenues of about $3 billion in 2016; OLED TV will be the second largest application, with revenues of about $2 billion in 2016.

Active matrix OLED (AMOLED) shipments grew due to strong mobile phone main display shipments. This is due to promotion of AMOLED mobile phones by Samsung Electronics, Nokia and Sony Ericsson in the 1H 09. More than 15 mobile phone models with AMOLED main displays were released in 2009.

Passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) maintained its unit shipment leadership in the OLED display market. After a weak Q1 09, PMOLED shipments stabilized in Q2 09 due to growth in mobile phone sub-display applications.

Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) had a strong Q2 09, and as a result, it maintained the #1 position in shipments with 38 percent market share, followed by RiTdisplay at #2.

"AMOLED displays have become an important differentiating feature for high end electronic products," noted Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch. "This technology is not only used for mobile phone main displays, but has also penetrated the market for portable media players, DSCs and other apps. There will be about 20 new or upgraded AMOLED production lines installed or upgraded worldwide in the next three years," Colegrove added.

OLED display revenue forecast

OLED manufacturers are planning to make TV panels larger than 11-inch in 2009. LG Display is mass-producing small-sized AMOLED, and has announced that it will mass-produce 15-inch AMOLED panels for TVs at the end of 2009. LG Electronics will commercialize 15-inch OLED TV sets for the holiday season, but Sony's 20-inch+ OLED TV announced in 2008 will not reach the market in 2009.

AMOLED display roadmap

With technology improvements, DisplaySearch forecasts AMOLED will enter more medium- and large-size applications. Notebooks are an attractive area starting in mid 2010, with netbooks expected to be in production by end of 2010. The 20-29-inch OLED TVs will enter market by the end of 2010, with 30-inch and larger TVs forecast to enter the market in late 2011.