With many smartphones and OEMs adopting AMOLED and OLED displays in recent years, it’s no surprise that the AMOLED market is expected to grow about 13.8-percent in 2019, after growing around 7.1-percent in 2018. Analysts expect the AMOLED market to rake in revenues of around $32.2 billion in 2019.
This news might be a bit surprising, seeing as the AMOLED market actually saw a decrease in sales in the fourth quarter of 2018. Normally the fourth quarter is the biggest quarter for most products, but AMOLED did drop around 3.7-percent. This is likely because the sales for those AMOLED displays were done the quarter before, seeing as they need to be bought before the phones can be manufactured and then sold. In the third quarter, shipments did jump over 40-percent.
The AMOLED market is not just referring to smartphones, it is also referring to monitors, TVs and anything else that uses the OLED technology. At CES earlier this year, there were plenty of new monitors announced with OLED displays, which is pretty interesting since there were virtually no OLED monitors before January of 2019. CES also showed many new 4K and 8K OLED TVs from LG, Sony and a few other manufacturers.
OLED is also where manufacturers are playing around with when it comes to foldable smartphones and flexible smartphones. Since OLED is way more flexible than a LCD panel, it makes it easier to use for a foldable smartphone. Of course, we haven’t really seen many foldable phones just yet, but this is the area that many companies are investing in.
Not to mention the fact that many more manufacturers are using OLED on their new smartphones. Like LG and Sony. Previously, Samsung was really the only one using OLED on its smartphones. LG recently started putting OLED into its V-series smartphones, while Sony started using it on the Xperia XZ3 released last year. And the trend is only likely to continue.
The report from UBI does also mention that flexible OLED panels are not being used in mid-range smartphones yet. This should come as no surprise, given the fact that the flexible OLED panels are much more expensive to use and manufacture in these smartphones. This has led to an oversupply of flexible OLED displays in 2018, and that oversupply should continue into 2019. Seeing as most manufacturers are still using flexible OLED panels in research and development, and not on actual smartphones just yet.
Seeing OLED gain in popularity across all electronics is definitely a good thing. With OLED, you are able to get a better looking picture, including deeper blacks and more vibrant colors. Which already looks impressive on a TV, but moving that over to a monitor or even something smaller like a smartphone, drastically improves the experience. And it’s something that is only going to continue. As companies are finding out that the possibilities with OLED technology are nearly unlimited, especially when compared to LCD panels, which really can’t flex or be folded. With most companies looking towards foldable smartphones, the OLED market is going to continue to grow exponentially.