On May 30th, Beijing time, OLED tablets and laptops have shipped tens of millions of pieces. In 2020, only 4.88 million OLED panels will be shipped in tablet and notebook applications. In addition to Samsung Display, China's Hehui Optoelectronics will gradually expand the OLED panel application market this year, and is expected to work with Samsung Display to increase the penetration rate of OLED panels in the PC market.
Coupled with the shortage of LCD panels this year, many brands have also added OLED product lines. Market research Omdia predicts that this year's shipments of OLED panels in tablets and laptops will exceed 10 million units for the first time, reaching a high annual growth rate of 124 percent .
Samsung Display has applied OLED panels to tablet computers for the first time since 2015, and will continue to launch OLED laptops in the coming year. However, due to the high maturity and price sensitivity of the PC market, relatively high-priced OLED panels are not easy to expand in the PC market. In addition, OLED panels are exclusively supplied by Samsung Display. LCD panels have more cost advantages in the PC market and the technology is constantly improving. As a result, the market size of OLED panels used in tablets and laptops is restricted.
Omdia statistics point out that in 2020, OLED notebook panel shipments will only be 980,000 pieces, and OLED flat panel shipments will be about 3.9 million pieces. Although the total still has an annual growth rate of 23 percent , the shipment targets are all lower than the original estimates. Due to the raging impact of the global new crown pneumonia, online consumption is concentrated in the demand for low-end and medium-end models, and sales in the high-end PC market, which focuses on OLED panels, are relatively weak.
Looking forward to 2021, in addition to Samsung Display in the PC market for OLED panels, after the mainland's Hehui Optoelectronics gradually expands the supply chain of OLED panels, it is expected to work with Samsung Display to increase the penetration rate of OLED panels in the PC market. Omdia predicts that this year's OLED panel and notebook shipments will exceed 10 million units for the first time, reaching a high annual growth rate of 124 percent .
In 2021, the PC supply chain will continue to face the problem of shortage of materials, and the shipment target of OLED panels may also be affected by the tight supply of materials. However, under the goal of Samsung Display and the new Hehui Optoelectronics to actively expand its business, the application of OLED panels in the PC market still has growth potential.
Lin Xiaoru, chief analyst at Omdia, said that in order to make its OLED notebook products more consumer-friendly and accelerate its market share, Samsung Display will launch a variety of FHD (1920x1080) or WQXGA (2560x1600) models in 2021, compared to UHD (3840x2160). The low-priced mainstream panel resolution is the launch of a new 16:10 panel to attract the attention of brands with more diversified product lines.
For OLED panels, in order to avoid price competition for low-priced LCD panels below 10 inches, we will expand towards the 2-in-1 PC market between 11 and 13 inches in 2021, with optional keyboards to increase the mobile computing functions of tablet computers to seize the market. Market demand for mid-range and small size notebooks under 13 inches. At present, Samsung Display and Hehui are actively planning new products with customers, and they are expected to be launched on the market in the second half of this year.
