UBI - Page 2

UBI Research says that during the first quarter of 2025, Samsung Display shipped about 250,000 foldable OLED panels, far below the shipments of BOE, CSOT and Visionox. In May, the company ramped up its shipments dramatically (to 1.78 million units) as the company started to supply panels for Samsung Electronics' upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7 series.

During May and June, SDC will ship a total of 3.3 million foldable OLED panels. In the whole second quarter, SDC will hold a market share of 52%. Meanwhile, during Q2 2025, BOE shipped 1.8 million panels, TCL CSOT shipped 900,000 panels and Visionox shipped 500,000 panels.

UBI Research predicts that shipments of OLED TV panels will grow from about 7 million units in 2025 to almost 10 million units in 2028.

UBI Research further says that at around 10 million units, both Samsung's QD-OLED fabs and LGD's WOLED fabs will operate at almost full capacity, which means that any increased shipments will have to be preceded by capacity increases.

UBI Research says that shipments of medium and large OLED panels increased in Q1 2025 by 12.2% compared to last year, while revenue grew by 17.1%.

UBI says that both Samsung Display and LG Display saw increased growth in shipments, while the quarter was flat for China-based producers.

UBI research says that shipments of small-size OLED panels (for smartphones and wearables, mostly) amounted to 243 million units in Q1 2025, that's a 14.3% decrease compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2024, 284 million units). Compared to Q1 2024, though, shipments rose 10.7% - to reach a record high for any first quarter.

According to UBI, both Samsung Display and LG Display saw declined shipments from the previous quarter (but increased shipments from Q4 2024). From all producers in China, Visionox suffered from the steepest decline. 

UBI Research says that OLED stack material shipments increased 30% in 2024, to reach 129 tons (up from 101 tons). 

UBI expects the market to continue growing, to reach 165 tons in 2025, and over 230 tons in 2029, driven by increased demand from both Chinese and Korean OLED makers.

UBI Research estimates that OLED smartphone panel shipments will reach 857 million units in 2024 (out of which 24 million were foldable OLEDs), up 26% from 677 million units in 2023. 

UBI says that the market will continue to grow in 2025 by 9% to reach 910 million units. Foldable OLED shipments will grow 27% and reach 38 million. The growth in foldable OLED shipments will continue in the future as Apple is expected to launch its first foldable iPhone in 2026. The market will reach over 1 billion panels in the first time in 2026.

UBI Research says that Samsung Display shipped around 8.4 million OLED laptop panels in 2024, up 55% from 2023, as demand for OLED displays by laptop vendors, including Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics is on the increase.

UBI expects Samsung Display to increase increasing its shipments, to 10.7 million panels in 2025, 18.3 million in 2026, and over 25 million by 2029. UBI expects 2026 to be a pivotal year as Apple will likely adopt an OLED for the first time in its MacBook Pro devices.

UBI tracks OLED laptop devices, and says that while only 12 OLED laptops were released in 2020, this grew to 80 different laptops types in 2024.

UBI Research estimates that the volume of OLED emitting materials purchased in Q3 2024 reached 32.7 tons, which is the highest ever, with the previous record in 2021. UBI expects 2024 as a whole to be the record year in OLED emitter material shipments.

In terms of customers, SDC holds the largest share with 41.4% of the total market, followed by LGD (20.5%), BOE (11.6%) and Visionox (8.3%). In terms of architecture, 83.7% of all emitter materials went into RGB OLEDs, 11.3% into WOLED (LG's WRGB) panels and 2.8% into QD-OLED panels.

UBI Research says that shipments of small OLED panels rose to 247 million units, up 7.8% from the previous quarter (and up 32.6% from Q3 2023), mainly driven by increase in shipments by LG Display and Everdisplay.

LG Display shipped 17.6 million smartphones panels in the quarter, up 64% from Q2 and 12.2 million wearable OLED panels (up 147%) - thanks to strong shipments to Apple. In total LGD's AMOLED shipments grew 74% quarter to quarter, and 115% from last year. UBI expects LGD to continue and increase its shipments in Q4. The company is almost at full capacity and UBI says the company may decide to expand the capacity at one of its existing 6-Gen fabs.

UBI Research says that Samsung Display's medium and large OLED panel shipments in Q3 2024 were the same as in the previous quarter. Shipments of tablet OLED devices were low, but this was offset by increased sales of automotive displays. Compared to 2023, total medium and large OLED panel shipments more than doubled, mainly due to increased sales of tablet panels to Apple, and increased laptop OLED shipments.

UBI estimates that SDC's tablet PC sales decreased by 38% compared to the previous quarter. Automotive OLED shipments rose from 100,000 units in Q1 2024 to around 500,000 in Q3.