Despite a sharp increase in shipments of flexible displays, the technology won’t be used for TVs or monitors in any significant volume until 2023, according to IHS Markit.
Instead the technology will be used in smartphones, with the market research body expecting shipments to reach 139
million units in 2017, giving the technology a year-on-year increase of 135% and a market share of 3.8% against other
display types.
Jerry Kang, principal analyst of display research for IHS Markit, said: “During 2016, many smartphone manufacturers have
pressured display panel makers to supply them with more flexible AMOLEDs for their new smartphone designs, however, due to limited
production capacity only a few players had their orders met in quantity.”
However, tight supply conditions are expected to
change in 2017 once Samsung Display and LG Display start operating their new fabs to increase supply capacity for flexible
displays.
According to the latest IHS Markit Flexible Display Market Tracker report, smartphones took up 76% of the total
flexible display supply in 2016 with the remainder taken up by smartwatches. However, flexible display supply for other applications, including
tablet PCs, near-eye virtual reality devices, automotive monitors and OLED TVs, is not expected to be significant until 2023.