OLED panel handset market penetration to slow in 2022 due to supply and price factors

According to a research report by Counterpoint Research, OLED panels will account for 42% of the global smartphone panel market in 2021, up 10 percentage points from 2020. OLED smartphone panel growth is expected to slow in 2022, with only a 2 percentage point increase in market share.

The report explains that the slowdown in OLED panel market growth is related to the lower average selling price of 5G smartphones. Due to supply shortages, prices of key components such as wafers are rising. The smartphone industry is facing lower prices but higher costs due to the slowdown in international economic growth and increased competition in the market, and the pressure of sluggish consumption.

Due to the above factors, manufacturers who urgently need to reduce production costs will maximize the competitiveness of panel prices. Tracking data shows that the share of OLED panels for 5G smartphones reached 80% in the fourth quarter of 2021, already down 2 percentage points from the same period in 2020.

The supply and price of OLED panels are also obstacles. OLED panels can directly replace cheap smartphone LCD panels, but the global supply of OLED panels is extremely limited, and investment is focused on high-end soft OLED panels instead of less profitable OLED panels, making the supply of OLED panels insufficient to fully replace LCD panel demand.

Soft OLED panels, the preferred choice for high-end smartphones, are now significantly lower in price than in 2020, and the adoption rate is on the rise.