Samsung Display is leading the way in manufacturing OLED displays, and the company continues its leadership with a 90.2% market share in Q1 2020.
Samsung captures 90-percent OLED market share in Q1 2020
The latest numbers come from market research firm Stone Partners, whose numbers show that the Korean giant has no equal when it comes to OLED display production. Samsung Display is leaps and bounds ahead of its rivals.
The company holds 90.2% of the market share in Q1 2020. In contrast, its competitors hold 0.4% (Tianna), 4.9% (EDO), 4.5% (Visionox), and 0.1% (BOE) respectively. With Samsung rivals holding no more than 5% of the market share, Samsung has no rivals in the OLED space. Chinese display maker BOE certainly can’t be happy with the results, since its 0.1% market share is so far beneath its own display growth prediction for 2020.
What is interesting to note is that Samsung’s OLED market share has increased by 2.1% from Q4 2019. The company’s market share increased to as much as 93.7% in Q2 2019.
Its market share dipped by nearly 4% in Q4 2019. Samsung has held at least 87% of the OLED display market share since Q4 2018. Market research firm UBI Research says that Samsung’s AMOLED market share will drop to 72 percent this year, though the chances of that decline look very slim (if impossible) at this point.
What the numbers show
The numbers in the OLED market share show what consumers already know. That is, Samsung Display is the number one OLED display producer worldwide. This isn’t surprising when one considers just how much Samsung manufactures, sells, and markets OLED displays.
The Korean giant has been using AMOLED panels in its flagship Galaxy S and Note series since their inceptions. The historically famous Galaxy S3 the company released in 2012 featured a 4.8-inch AMOLED panel. AMOLED panels are one type of OLED display.
Samsung manufactures OLED displays for a number of Android OEMs. Huawei, OnePlus, and Xiaomi are those who have received OLED panels from the company in the last few years. Samsung may very well supply foldable displays to Huawei and Xiaomi in the near future.
In addition to its Android sales, Samsung also sells OLED panels to top rival Apple. Apple used liquid crystal diode (LCD) panels in its iPhone lineup for years until the company simply couldn’t compete without AMOLED panels anymore. Sources say that Samsung charges Apple at least $120-$130 per panel, though that price point could be higher in 2020 as OLED demand surges.
OLED panels on the rise, Samsung exits LCD production
OLED production is where the mobile market is headed. Demand for OLED panels are rising, and with that, Samsung’s efforts to market OLED displays are increasing.
LCD has been the more affordable preference for Android OEMs in the last few years. With the demand for OLED rising and the demand for LCD declining, Samsung is slowly but surely exiting the LCD market.
The company has already started reducing LCD screen production. Now Samsung says that it will stop making LCD panels by the end of 2020. LCDs are becoming “unprofitable,” Samsung says. While the company is still not on board with OLED TVs, it is ditching standard LCD in favor of QLED (Quantum LED LCDs) using Quantum Dot technology.
