OLED panels used for external screens/monitors remain dominated by the two major South Korean panel manufacturers, Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD), becoming a new growth driver for both firms with an annual shipment growth of around 20%.
According to a report by the Korea Economic Daily, market research firm Omdia estimates that OLED panel shipments for monitors will reach approximately 1.84 million pieces in 2024, representing a 121% increase from 2023. Shipments are expected to surge further to 2.37 million pieces in 2025 and 3.23 million pieces in 2027, for a CAGR of 21%.
OLED was not adopted in monitors until 2021, and the bankruptcy announcement of JOLED at the end of 2023 led to the monitor OLED market being mainly divided between SDC and LGD.
In the first quarter of 2024, Chinese panel makers supplied over 50% of global smartphone OLED shipments. However, they are still unable to mass-produce OLEDs for monitors, allowing South Korean manufacturers to hold an advantage in the OLED display market for monitors.
Currently, demand for monitor OLED panels is mainly driven by enthusiasts prioritizing high image quality and screen response speed. In response, South Korean manufacturers have focused on gaming OLEDs, which boast 100x faster image response time than LCDs and can also reduce eye strain for users.
Besides supplying LG Electronics, LGD is also selling OLEDs for monitors to over 10 other brands in Europe and North America. The company has also started mass production of gaming OLED monitors with a response time touted as the fastest in the industry (0.03ms).
SDC also intends to target the gaming community and is preparing to double its target shipment volume of OLEDs for monitors in 2024, aiming to significantly increase its influence in the gaming OLED market.
