Smartphones proved OLEDs’ best friend in 2012

Worldwide sales of small- and midsized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels surged last year in line with growing demand for smartphones, data showed yesterday.
The market for 9-inch or smaller OLED panels reached $6.86 billion in 2012, nearly doubling from $3.52 billion the previous year, according to the data by research firm NPD DisplaySearch.

With the on-year increase, the portion of OLED panels in the small- and mid-sized OLED market jumped two-fold to 19.5 percent from 11.8 percent.
In contrast, sales of LCDs in the same size category logged a slower on-year growth of 12.3 percent, according to the data. By company, Samsung Display topped the list with a 22.9 percent market share. Samsung Display supplies OLED panels for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy smartphone line-up.
Sharp and Japan Display followed with 13.2 percent and 11.8 percent. LG Display, another Korean player, ranked fourth with 11.5 percent.

The research firm projected OLED panels would continue to boost sales of small- and midsized panels amid growing demand for the so-called phablets, a hybrid between smartphones and tablet computers. Yonhap