8 hours Ago By Varun Godinho
OLED display shipments for smartphones and foldable devices are projected to grow rapidly over the next few years, according to a new report from UBI Research. Total OLED shipments for these devices jumped 27% year-on-year in 2024, reaching 834 million units for smartphones and 24 million units for foldable phones. UBI predicts that in 2025, OLED shipments will reach 910 million for smartphone units and 38 million for foldable phones.
It also expects shipments will cross 1 billion units in 2026 and reach 1.3 billion by 2029. Last year’s growth was driven mainly by Samsung Electronics which is expanding its rigid OLED usage and increased flexible OLED production from Chinese manufacturers.
Apple’s rumoured entry into the foldable phone market in 2026 is expected to further accelerate OLED display demand growth. However, although shipment volumes will increase, revenue is forecast to decline from 2025 onward due to lower selling prices, particularly affecting Chinese flexible OLED shipments, reported Display Daily. Chinese panel makers will gradually increase their revenue share as production volumes grow, and Korean manufacturers are expected to maintain dominance with over 50% of market revenue through 2029, according to UBI.
Worldwide smartphone shipments increased 6.4% year-on-year in 2024 to reach a total of 1.24 billion units, according to IDC.
Over the full year of 2024, IDC says that Apple shipped a total of 232.1 million units (down 0.9% year-on-year), followed by Samsung with a total of 223.
4 million units (a decline of 1.4% year-on-year), Xiaomi with 168.5 million phones (an increase of 15.
4% year-on-year), Transsion with 106.9 million smartphones (up 12.7% year-on-year), and followed by Oppo with 104.
8 million units (an increase of 1.4% year-on-year). The final quarter of 2024 was a bumper one for Chinese smartphone vendors.
“This past quarter was particularly remarkable for the largest Chinese smartphone vendors: Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor, Huawei, Lenovo, realme, Transsion, TCL, and ZTE. They achieved a historic milestone as they shipped the highest combined volume ever in a quarter, representing 56% of the global smartphone shipments in Q4,” said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for EMEA Client Devices, IDC..
