[아이뉴스24 장유미 기자] As Chinese display companies attack small and medium-sized organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) in earnest, Korean companies, who have led the market, have a growing sense of crisis. As Chinese companies show signs of expanding the small and medium-sized OLED market at a low price like the liquid crystal display (LCD) market, the Korean display industry, which has been at the top for 17 years, is also raising tensions.
According to the industry on the 23rd, China’s largest display maker BOE is planning to supply flexible OLEDs to some models of Samsung Electronics’ mid-range phone’Galaxy M’series, which is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year. It surpassed Samsung Display with its low price and technology that raised it to the level of Korean companies.
BOE has supplied LCD to Samsung Electronics, but it is the first time to do OLED. Initially, Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S21 panel supply was aimed at, but the quality issue could not be resolved, so it was not possible to cross the threshold. However, thanks to the efforts to improve technology and low prices, it succeeded in pushing out Samsung Display this time. The fact that Samsung Electronics is actively working on cost reduction by expanding the proportion of mid- and low-priced phones was also a big impact.
Accordingly, it is known that BOE has made the supply plan for the’Galaxy M’series a pre-determined fact and confirmed the mass production schedule in July.
At the end of last year, Apple’s high wall was also broken. Until now, the OLED panels of the iPhone have been mainly supplied by Samsung Display and LG Display. BOE also initially tried to supply panels to the’iPhone 12′, but failed because it did not pass Apple’s quality test. However, as a result of steadily knocking on Apple’s door, it won some quantities of iPhone replacement (refurbished) at the end of last year. It has been about 3 years and 6 months since the first 6th generation flexible OLED plant was operated in May 2017.
An industry insider said, “As major customers, Huawei and LG Electronics, are shaken by US sanctions and business withdrawal, respectively, the BOE is actively working to prepare an alternative.” I heard that it offered a price comparable to that of regular OLEDs as a supply price,” he said.
BOE is already pursuing Korean display companies by providing foldable displays to Huawei and Motorola. BOE also took the amount of rollable phone displays that LG Electronics initially unveiled. However, it is highly likely that this will not be realized as LG Electronics has made a move to organize its smartphone business.
In addition to BOE, Tianma, CSOT, Visa Knox, and EDO are also aggressively jumping into the OLED market by increasing production in the first half of this year. In particular, there is a lot of interest in flexible OLEDs that can freely transform displays.
In addition, Chinese companies are actively investing in facilities and threatening Korean companies. Chinese companies are known to produce a total of 135,000 OLED panels per month, including 105,000 flexible OLEDs per month and rigid (hard) OLEDs 30,000 per month. In addition, in the first half of this year, a total of 90,000 units are expected to be added, including 75,000 units per month for flexible OLEDs and 15,000 units per month for rigid OLEDs.
Chinese companies have also massively expanded the 6th generation display production line, where OLED panels for smartphones are produced. The industry predicts that China’s 6th generation flexible OLED production capacity will surpass Korea in 2023.
An industry insider said, “The increase in production of Chinese companies can lead to a decline in OLED panel prices.” Like LG Display’s withdrawal of business, it could be enough in the OLED market,” he said.
Due to this movement of Chinese companies, the market share is gradually increasing. Domestic companies such as Samsung Display and LG Display accounted for about 85.8% of the global smartphone OLED market last year, but the gap between Korea and China is rapidly narrowing every year. In fact, the gap between the two countries, which was 97 percentage points in 2016, is rapidly decreasing to 96.5 percentage points in 2017, 92.7 percentage points in 2018, 79.6 percentage points in 2019, and 72.6 percentage points last year.
In particular, BOE, which had a global market share of only 0.1% in 2017, four years ago, recently increased its market share to 8.8%, narrowing the gap with LG Display, which is in the 10% range.
An industry insider said, “BOE, which has secured Samsung Display’s level of technology at a low price, is highly likely to expand panel supply to Samsung Electronics’ flagship model,’Galaxy S’,” he said. In addition, as Chinese companies are accelerating their pursuit, it is necessary for domestic companies to actively strengthen their technological competitiveness.”
/ Reporter Yoomi Jang ([email protected])