On March 10, Korean media Etnews reported that data from market research firm Omdia showed that among the displays used in smartphones shipped last year, the proportion of OLED reached 51%, surpassing liquid crystal displays (LCD) for the first time.

OLED shipments increased by 26% from 2023 to 784 million units. In contrast, LCD shipments fell 8% to 761 million units during the same period.

The reason why OLED shipments exceeded LCD is that OLED has been expanded to be used in mid- and low-end smartphones. Most Chinese smartphone makers have significantly expanded the use of OLED displays. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics, for example, uses OLED displays not only in its high-end Galaxy A series, but also in its lower-end A1 series.

South Korean media also stated that due to the concentrated use of domestic OLEDs by Chinese smartphone manufacturers, China's OLED panel shipments increased by 45% compared to 2023. At present, China's OLED panel market share has reached nearly 45%.

On the other hand, companies such as Apple and Samsung Electronics focused on providing high-value-added panels for high-end devices, and their shipments only increased by 14.3%. South Korea's OLED market share fell slightly to 54.9%.

South Korean media said that the proportion of OLED in the smartphone market is expected to increase further this year. Apple's recently released entry-level smartphone, the iPhone 16e, adopted OLED for the first time and expanded the application of OLED panels to all models.

As Chinese manufacturers continue to expand their use of OLED panels, shipments are also increasing. However, Korean media believe that South Korea's competitive advantage in the high value-added OLED field remains. At the same time, some analysts believe that the expansion of the OLED market will bring more opportunities to South Korea.

It is expected that domestic Korean companies will take advantage of Apple's adoption of low-power, high-value-added low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) in all models of the iPhone 17 series (regular, Air, Pro, and Pro Max) to increase the supply of OLEDs.

In addition, as shipments of OLED panels expanded, corresponding display material components also rebounded. A person in the display material parts industry said, "As the number of Samsung Electronics smartphones using OLED panels increased in 2024, the corresponding (material parts) also achieved a considerable supply effect," and expected that "this trend will continue this year as well."