OLEDs for laptops - introduction and industry news. - Page 8

UBI Research estimates that sale revenues of medium and large OLED displays (UBI defines these from 10-inch and up) rose 22.9% in Q2 2022 compared to the previous quarter and 11.2% compared to last year - to reach $1.67 billion.

In term of sales, UBI estimates that total shipments in 2022 will reach 26.3 million units. Most of the growth in 2022 will come from laptop displays - where shipments almost doubled in the second quarter to 2.18 million units.

Samsung Display's CEO Choi Joo-sun says that the company sees a great potential for OLED displays in the IT market (mainly notebook and monitor displays), and that Samsung is building a new 8-Gen (2200x2500 mm) production line which will begin production in 2024. The glass efficiency at 8-Gen (uncut glass) will be 20% higher compared to Samsung's 6-Gen lines.

This new fab was already reported last year, but this is the first time we officially hear a commitment from SDC. According to DSCC, there are over 10 8.5-Gen OLED lines under consideration now in the industry, as demand for OLED panels for laptops, tablets and monitors is o the rise. Samsung is the current leader in OLED IT displays.

DSCC says that in Q2 2022, OLED panel revenues increased 12% compared to Q2 2021, while shipment units declined 3%. Fewer OLEDs were shipped, but revenues increased as we've seen an increased growth in high value panels (gaming, monitors, laptops, automotive, etc) and also an improved form factor adoption in smartphones.

In Q2 2022, smartphones remained the largest OLED application with a 76% unit and revenue share. OLED smartwatches had a 16% unit share (and a 6% revenue share), and OLED TVs had a 11% revenue share (up from 8% in Q1 2022).

In January 2022, Asus announced its first foldable laptop, the ZenBook 17 Fold OLED. The innovative device offers a 17.3" 2560x1920 foldable OLED display (supplied by BOE) that can fold in half to become a 12.5-inch device with dual 1920x1280 displays.

ASUS now announced that it will officially launched the foldable laptop before the IFA 2022 trade show on August 31. Asus announce da virtual event on August 31 (14:00 CEST). This will be an interesting event to watch.

Samsung Electronics reported its financial results for Q2 2022, with record second-quarter revenues of 77.2 trillion Won ($59 billion USD).

Samsung Display reported record second-quarter revenue and operating profit for mobile displays driven by solid demand from major customers. Samsung specifically mentions the growth in its laptop OLED business. Performance in the large panel business was weaker due to initial ramp-up costs of Samsung's QD-OLED displays, and a decline in LCD prices.

DSCC estimates that the OLED market will increase 2% in 2022, to reach $42 billion. Revenues for smartphones, the leading OLED application, will actually decline by 4%, but this will be offset by increases in other applications.

In fact, some applications will experience very fast growth: OLED monitors (641% unit growth, 279% revenue growth), OLED laptops (64% units, 39% revenue) and automotive displays (73% units, 68% revenue).

Following strong demand for IT devices, and Samsung's success in the OLED laptop market, OLED makers have began to plan building new OLED production lines specifically for IT applications: laptops, tablets and monitors.

Several OLED makers, including Samsung, LG and BOE, are considering building 8.5-Gen production lines for this market. In fact DSCC estimated that there are 11 such lines under development right now. But it turns out that this is not so simple as designing the evaporation equipment for larger substrates is a challenge.

DSCC says that in 2022, MiniLEDs will hold a 49% share in the advanced notebook market, while OLED will hold a 51% share. Looking into the future,MiniLEDs sales will increase slightly, while OLED sales will rise much faster, and by 2026 OLED shipments to the notebook market will reach over 40 million panels, and hold a 75% market share.

Looking at specific vendors, DSCC sees Asus as the leading OLED notebook maker, with a market share of 55%, followed by Lenovo at 17% and both Samsung and HP at 11%. The market ranking will remain pretty constant in 2022 as a whole.

Samsung Display officially announced its latest laptop OLED display, a 15.6" 240Hz panel aimed for gaming laptops. The display offers a QHD (2560x1440) resolution, a response time of 0.2 ms and VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification.

Samsung also announced that the first laptop to adopt the new display, which will enter production soon, is MSI's Raider GE67 HX, which is already available for pre-orders.

DSCC says that global OLED revenues in Q1 2022 were around $9.5 billion, the same as in Q1 2021, even though unit shipments declined 4%.

Smartphone remained the leading OLED application, with a 79% revenue share, even though shipments decreased 8% (and revenues decreased 3%). The second largest application by shipments is wearables (16% in Q1 2022 by shipments and in 6% market share by revenues).