As the fourth quarter begins, IT panel demand has entered its usual seasonal lull, with shipments expected to fall from third-quarter levels. Notebook panel prices are forecasted to soften slightly as manufacturers brace for a challenging 2026 while anticipating a potential rebound driven by AI-enabled PCs.

Apple's iPhone 17 series has surpassed sales expectations, with South Korean manufacturers dominating the supply of its crucial OLED panels. Meanwhile, China's largest panel maker, BOE Technology Group, has struggled with quality issues, disrupting its deliveries and likely forcing further cuts to its originally planned supply.

A US federal court jury in Texas has found Samsung Electronics liable for infringing patents related to OLED technology and ordered the company to pay damages totaling approximately US$191.4 million. The verdict stems from claims brought by Pictiva Displays, an Irish subsidiary of patent licensing firm Key Patent Innovations, involving Samsung's use of specified OLED patents in its consumer electronics.

Micro LED supplier PlayNitride reported a trough in operations for the second quarter of 2025, posting an after-tax net loss of NT$370 million (US$12 million) due to foreign exchange valuation losses. The company acknowledged that its performance in the first half of 2025 fell short of expectations but expects shipments to improve quarter-over-quarter through the third quarter and fourth quarter.

As holiday seasons approach, including China's Singles' Day and Black Friday in Europe and the US, the smartphone panel market has maintained high utilization rates in the fourth quarter of 2025, though price trends have diverged across different panel technologies.

Although the LCD industry supply chain has begun moving from China to Vietnam in the past two years, front-end panel processes remain mainly in China or Taiwan. Sarah Lin, president of Coretronic Corporation, stated that the influx of Chinese component and module suppliers building capacity in Vietnam has created a major test for Vietnam's factory construction speed, human resources, and local culture. After building a new factory in the first half of 2025, Lin believes that Vietnam's manufacturing efficiency is lower than China's.

The third-quarter earnings season for the industry has begun, led by Powertip Technology, followed by Coretronic. The main events are set for October 30, when major names including LG Display (LGD), AUO, Radiant Opto-Electronics, and BenQ Materials will hold their briefings.

Vietnam has grown significantly into a hotspot for companies from South Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan to set up factories. The escalation of US-China trade tensions has caused a rapid flood of Chinese companies to expand to Vietnam, drawing significant attention from South Korean businesses already established in the country.

Darwin Precisions will remain as a key player in the display industry even amid challenges resulting from tariffs and exchange rates, according to company chairman Kuo-hsin Tsai. The company has worked hard to improve its financials while optimizing product mix, production efficiency, and cost structure, aiming for better performance in 2026.

China's Shenzhen Sapo Photoelectric will invest CNY1.334 billion (US$186 million) to build a new LCD and OLED polarizer production line in Shenzhen, worsening an already oversupplied market. With the global display supply chain increasingly concentrated in China, Taiwanese polarizer makers face intensifying pressure to transform.