This year's shipments of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for smartphones and foldable phones are projected to reach about 900 million units. By revenue, Samsung Display and LG Display, which have a high share of premium products, hold the advantage, but by shipment volume, Chinese panel makers have risen to a level on par with Korean corporations.
According to UBI Research's quarterly "OLED Display Market Tracker" on the 9th, shipments of OLED panels for smartphones and foldable phones this year are expected to reach about 900 million units. Looking at the annual shipment share, Chinese panel makers accounted for about 48.8%, nearly catching up with Korean corporations.
Although the shipment volumes of the two countries are similar, Korean makers have a higher share of volumes for premium smartphones such as the iPhone and Galaxy flagships, so by revenue, Korea appears to still maintain the lead.
In particular, in the fourth quarter, shipments of smartphone and foldable phone panels by Korean panel makers rose sharply, marking their best performance of the year. Panel supply began to expand in earnest from the third quarter with the launch of Apple's new products, and as mass production of panels for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S26 series ramped up, shipments peaked.
Samsung Display continued solid growth into the fourth quarter, following the third quarter, on increased panel demand for the iPhone 17 series and Galaxy S25 FE. With full-scale mass production of the iPhone and Galaxy S26 series, the company is expected to record its highest annual shipment volume this year.
LG Display likewise achieved a sharp rebound with supply of about 20 million units in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, and an additional increase of about 20% is expected in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, BOE is diversifying supply across a wide smartphone lineup from mid-range to upper mid-range, expanding its customer base, while TCL CSOT and Visionox showed a trend of expanding supply in a balanced manner to both the domestic market and global brands. Tianma is focusing on strengthening technological competitiveness by increasing the share of high value-added products such as LTPO.