At present, because the OLED process is not very mature, it is still being upgraded. However, it is undeniable that the OLED market is prosperous. The development of OLED support not only needs to be followed, but also needs to be surpassed through technological innovation.
Apple introduced the first iPhoneX with an OLED screen, which triggered consumer attention to the OLED screen and boosted the OLED market. According to a survey report released by the Japanese private research institute Yano Economic Research Institute, the overall market size of global OLED panels (including smartphones, TVs, smart watches, etc.) increased by 12.3% to 437 million in 2017. And because Apple plans to expand the adoption of OLED panels in the future, and Chinese manufacturers are expected to follow Apple's footsteps, it is estimated that the global OLED panel market will show rapid growth in 2018, which is expected to increase by 34.1% to 635 million. .
Due to the optimistic demand for OLED panels, panel manufacturers such as Sharp, Japan Display Inc (JDI), BOE, CSOT, and Tianma Microelectronics are actively investing in equipment. It is estimated that the above manufacturers will be in 2019-2020. During the year, the official production of OLED panels began. In addition to the demand from smartphones, the demand for OLED panels for TVs is also expected to expand. Therefore, the global OLED panel market is expected to expand to 1.536 billion in 2022. The level of the film will increase by 2.6 times (by 264%) compared to 2016 (420 million pieces).
According to the report, in terms of the OLED market for smartphones, the growth of the global smartphone market in 2017 is passivated, but with the iPhone X blessing, the OLED panel market grew 10.8% to 641 million, of which OLED for iPhone X. The number of panels is estimated to be approximately 60 million. Among the three new iPhone models that were launched in 2018, it is estimated that two models will be equipped with OLED panels, which will boost the market for OLED panels for iPhone in 2018 to a maximum of more than 100 million.
In order to increase the supply of OLED screens and diversify suppliers. Apple invested $2.7 billion in LG to help it expand its OLED screen production line so that it can supply OLED screens for the iPhone. In order to become a supplier of iPhone OLED screens, LG has also invested a lot of money, which is expected to be as much as 3.5 billion US dollars.
Guo Minghao, an analyst at Taiwan-based KGI Securities, predicts that in 2019, LG will provide one to two percent of Apple's organic screens. By 2020, the supply ratio will increase to two to 30%.
In the display panel market, LG has made a big bet on organic screen technology. But the strange thing is that the organic screen TV produced by the company is of good quality, but the mobile phone organic screen has a lot of faults.
Recently, foreign media reported that although LG has strong technical strength in large-scale OLED screens such as TV, there is no problem, but it has encountered problems in the POLED screens required for smartphones. Currently, the POLED screens produced for smartphones still exist. Big quality problems.
KGI Securities analyst Guo Mingxi had previously predicted that after Apple's investment, LG will enter the ranks of iPhone OLED screen suppliers in 2019, and supply in 2019 will account for 10% to 20% of Apple's OLED screen demand, 2020 The year will increase to 20% to 30%. If quality problems cannot be solved quickly, LG may have difficulty supplying OLED screens for the iPhone in 2019.
It is understood that at present in the global mobile phone organic screen market, Samsung Display Company has a market share of nearly 90% and is in a complete monopoly. Samsung also relies on its own monopoly position to obtain lucrative profits from Apple. Samsung's own mobile phone purchase organic screen, the price is 85 US dollars, but the supply to Apple iPhone X, the price is 110 US dollars.
Considering that Apple and Samsung are competitors in consumer electronics products, and Apple has always had a tradition of diversifying parts supply, Apple will try its best to purchase OLED screens from other manufacturers under the possible conditions.
In the field of display, Apple has a large number of suppliers, but unfortunately, in addition to Samsung, other manufacturers currently do not have mass production technology. Japan's Sharp Corporation has accumulated technology in the field of organic screens, but it has been difficult to mass-produce because of the lack of funds. Another large supplier, the Japanese Display Company, is currently undergoing structural reorganization to promote mass production research on organic screens.
According to reports, Apple even contacted China's BOE before, hoping to obtain organic screen supply, but the two sides did not have further procurement cooperation. According to Taiwan media reports, organic screen manufacturers in mainland China still have a gap with Samsung Electronics for several years in terms of mass production technology and quality.
Zhejiang Synmot Electrical Technology Co., Ltd , https://www.synmot-electrical.com