SAN FRANCISCO — The value of the global market for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panels is expected to reach $25.2 billion in 2017, an increase of 63 percent from 2016, thanks to growing use of AMOLED panels in smartphones and TVs, according to market research firm IHS Markit.

According to Ricky Park, director of display research at IHS Markit, in addition to smartphones and TVs, the AMOLED panel market will also get a lift from rising demand in  head-mount displays and mobile PCs.

AMOLED display use has rapidly risen in the smartphone market in particular as the flexible substrate allows phones to be produced in various designs with a lighter and slimmer bodies, IHS Markit said. Leading smartphone makers have competitively rolled out premium phones this year that boast a narrow bezel or nearly bezel-less designs, the firm noted.

"The AMOLED display market is also expected to get a boost from Apple’s decision to use an AMOLED screen in its iPhone series to be released later this year, and Chinese smartphone makers’ moving to newer applications of AMOLED panels," Park said, in a press statement.

Park said South Korean and Chinese display makers have been heavily investing in Generation 6 AMOLED fabs in order to increase capacity to meet the surging demand.

The AMOLED TV panel market, the second largest market for AMOLED displays, is expected to grow to 1.5 million units this year, up from 890,000 units last year, according to IHS Markit's display demand forecast tracker. By 2021, the AMOLED panel market is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent to exceed $40 billion, IHS Markit predicts.

 

—Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.

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