In 2021, Samsung Electronics’ LCD panel smartphone shipments will exceed OLED panel models. The former is relatively cheaper than the latter. Analysts said the South Korean smartphone giant has adopted a cost-cutting strategy in response to an expected rise in smartphone prices as parts shortages persist around the world.
According to market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics will ship 135.8 million LCD smartphones and 135.1 million OLED smartphones in 2021. Compared with the previous year, shipments of LCD smartphones increased by about 41%, while shipments of OLED models fell by about 15%.
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Samsung’s profitability improved as it ramped up shipments of LCD smartphones. In 2021, its LCD smartphone sales revenue will reach about 4.23 trillion won, an increase of 740% from about 503 billion won in the previous year.
During this period, the proportion of LCD smartphones in the range of 100,000 won to 500,000 won climbed to 68.7%. On the other hand, the sales of OLED smartphones were about 10.137 billion won, down 3.9% from the previous year.
Since 2010, Samsung Electronics has been playing a leading role in driving the growth of the OLED smartphone market, expanding the use of OLED panels from high-end smartphones to cheap products.
However, analysts said Samsung Electronics will expand LCD smartphone shipments in 2021 due to a trend of lower costs. Prices of smartphone components including application processors (APs), integrated circuits (ICs), and modem chips for 5G mobile communications will soar in 2021.
Moreover, tight OLED panel supply also played a role. Analysts say the global supply of rigid OLED panels has recently reached its limit. The proportion of smartphones equipped with rigid OLED panels is gradually declining.
Furthermore, Small and medium OLED panels are mainly divided into flexible OLED panels mounted on high-end smartphones and rigid OLED panels for economical smartphones. Analysts predict a slowdown in the OLED smartphone market in 2022, unlike in previous years.
According to Counterpoint Research, smartphone companies will adopt OLED at 42% in 2021, up 10 percentage points from 2020. However, this ratio is expected to grow by only 2 percentage points in 2022.
