The global organic light-emitting diode (OLED) monitor market is rapidly expanding in size this year, continuing last year's momentum. While growth in the overall monitor market is slowing, only the OLED segment is expected to surge. This is poised to become a new growth engine for Samsung Display and LG Display, which have focused on the premium OLED market over liquid crystal display (LCD) and prepared for the opening of the IT OLED market.
On the 20th, a compilation of outlooks from multiple market research firms showed that many expect the OLED panel market for monitors to grow 50%–60% this year. UBI Research said OLED monitor shipments, based on panels, rose about 64% to around 3.2 million units last year from 1.95 million in 2024, and projected growth of more than 50% this year. China-based AVC Revo projected growth of about 63%, from 3.3 million units last year to 5.4 million this year.
This trend contrasts with the slowdown in the overall monitor market. Omdia analyzed that total shipments in the large display market rose only 2.8% last year, while LCD monitor shipments fell 1.8%. By contrast, shipments of large OLED panels are steadily increasing. Among them, demand for IT OLED is soaring sharply. As of last year, OLED for monitors increased 60.9%, and OLED for laptops increased 45.9%.
Korean panel makers such as Samsung Display and LG Display are shifting their focus to higher-margin IT OLEDs, particularly monitors and laptops. On the demand side, gaming is the key driver. A domestic display industry official said, "As products with refresh rates of 240Hz or higher increase, OLED is becoming the representative choice for premium gaming monitors."
Last year, OLED monitor shipments were 2.5 million units for Samsung Display and 800,000 units for LG Display. Samsung Display makes monitor OLEDs with quantum dot (QD)-OLED, and LG Display uses white (W)-OLED. Samsung Display's customers include Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and Samsung Electronics. LG Display's major customers include Asus and LG Electronics.
On the supply side, Korean companies have an overwhelming position. Although the market is still in its early growth stage, Samsung Display, which has aggressively invested in IT OLED, holds the most favorable position, and the prevailing view is that LG Display will take the rest of the pie. However, as China's BOE and CSOT are also stepping into IT OLED, Korean companies' market share could be shaken when Chinese corporations' 8th-generation OLED production lines go into full operation.
Meanwhile, Samsung Display, which has the industry's largest production capacity, plans to stabilize its 8.6-generation IT OLED production line starting in the second half of this year and ramp up shipment volumes in earnest. The 8.6-generation line uses substrates 2.2 times larger than existing 6th-generation lines, improving production efficiency and cost competitiveness.