Omdia: Demand for smartphone display panels will drop to 1.425 billion in 2022, down 18% year-on-year

Source: Smartphone display market tracker 3Q22

In 2022, the demand for smartphone display panels fell to 1.425 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 18%. This was due to the expected recovery of the market after the epidemic in 2021, excessive procurement of display panels and high inventory, and sluggish consumption under global inflation in 2022, which caused a double blow to mobile phone panel shipments.

In the smartphone display panel market, low-temperature polysilicon AMOLED (LTPO-AMOLED (flexible) on flexible substrates is expected to increase significantly to 148 million in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 94%, while low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) AMOLED, including rigid and flexible, will decrease to 440 million (a year-on-year decrease of 19%), and TFT LCD will decrease to 836 million (a year-on-year decrease of 26%).

Hiroshi Hayase, research manager at Omdia's display panel research business, said: "Strong demand for the iPhone 14 Pro series, which uses low-power LTPO-AMOLED and provides added value such as longer battery life and off-screen display, has helped push up LTPO-AMOLED shipments."

The growth in shipments of LTPO-AMOLED, which has a relatively high unit price, has temporarily widened the gap between the technologically advanced Korean manufacturers and the Chinese manufacturers that are closely following them. The overall smartphone display panel revenue in 2021 and 2022 shows that Samsung ranks first, BOE ranks second, and LG Display ranks third. The revenue share of Korean manufacturers is expected to increase from 58% in 2021 to 64% in 2022, while the total share of Chinese manufacturers is expected to decrease from 33% in 2021 to 29% in 2022.

The smartphone display panel market is expected to increase slightly to 1.462 billion units (3% year-on-year) in 2023. Total TFT LCD shipments will be at 816 million units (down 2% year-on-year), total LTPS-AMOLED shipments are expected to increase to 460 million units (up 4% year-on-year), while only LTPO-AMOLED shipments are expected to grow to 186 million units, up 25% year-on-year.

“Given the challenging economic situation, consumers are carefully choosing high-value products. The low power consumption value brought by LTPO-AMOLED to smartphones will continue to drive demand in the smartphone display panel market throughout 2023,” concluded Hiroshi Hayase.