The pandemic of the new coronavirus will lead to a double-digit decline in smartphone shipments, but the global market for active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) smartphone displays can overcome the crisis and is expected to grow by 9% in 2020 .
According to the Omdia OLED display market research report, shipments of AMOLED panels used in smartphones will surge from 471 million in 2019 to 513 million. In contrast, due to coronaviruses affecting consumer demand and supply chain availability, global smartphone shipments are expected to decline by 13% in 2020, indicating that the penetration rate of AMOLED panels will rise sharply this year.
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Global shipments of smartphone AMOLED display panels from 2017 to 2020 Source: Omdia (04/2020)
Brian Huh, principal analyst of small and medium-sized displays at Omdia, said that even in the catastrophic market conditions caused by the corona virus pandemic, global smartphone brands are increasingly shifting their product lines to AMOLED display technology. Apple is expected to increase its AMOLED iPhone product line from two to three in 2019. At the same time, Chinese smartphone OEMs are expected to increase the number of high-end smartphones integrating AMOLED panels this year.
This growth comes entirely from the demand for flexible AMOLED, and its shipments are expected to increase by 50% by 2020. The demand for foldable panel smartphones is helping to promote the sales growth of flexible AMOLED. In comparison, the rigid AMOLED market is expected to drop by 12% in 2020 due to the new pandemic pneumonia pandemic and the fierce competition with alternative display technology, low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) TFT LCD.
In 2019, shipments of AMOLED panels for smartphones increased to 471 million, an increase of 16% over 2018. Therefore, the AMOLED penetration rate of the entire smartphone display market rose by 4 percentage points, reaching 30% last year. Among them, the shipment of rigid AMOLED panels increased to 313 million pieces, an increase of 26% from 2018. The growth in shipments of Chinese smartphone OEMs is the main driving force behind the increase in shipments of rigid AMOLED panels.
However, shipments of flexible AMOLED panels fell slightly last year, falling to 158 million, a 1% decrease from 2018. Demand for Apple and Samsung smartphones using flexible AMOLED display panels in 2019 is lower than originally expected. In addition, Chinese smartphone OEMs did not expand their AMOLED smartphone lineup in 2019.
In terms of panel suppliers, Samsung Display shipped 407 million AMOLED panels for smartphones in 2019, an 8% increase from 2018, prompting the company to dominate the market, with a market share of 86% of unit shipments throughout the year .
However, Samsung Display ’s share of total AMOLED panel shipments continued to decline. At the same time, other panel manufacturers such as BOE, Hehui Optoelectronics and Visionox have increased panel shipments. Excluding Samsung Display, total AMOLED panel shipments in 2019 increased by 113% to 64 million.
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Shipment of smartphone AMOLED display panels from 2017 to 2020 (by supplier), source: Omdia (04/2020)
In terms of AMOLED panel purchases by smartphone OEMs, Samsung ’s purchases increased by 3% to 194 million in 2019 due to increased rigid AMOLED shipments. However, Apple's panel purchases decreased by 24% to 56 million.
At the same time, panel purchases by Chinese OEMs have increased dramatically. Huawei and Xiaomi's panel purchases increased by 287% and 120%, respectively, to 73 million and 20 million. Both companies have increased the adoption rate of AMOLED in the mid-to-high-end smartphone product line in 2019 to replace TFT-LCD.
