The global market for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for smartphones burgeoned 30 percent in the third quarter this year from a year earlier after global smartphone giant Apple Inc. has joined its arch rival Samsung Electronics Co. in adopting OLED displays for the iPhone series.

According to global market data provider IHS Markit on Thursday, the global smartphone OLED market was estimated at $4.7 billion in the third quarter ended September this year, up 29.4 percent from $3.7 billion in the same period last year.

The growth has been mainly led by the expanded adoption of OLED displays by global smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics Co. for the Galaxy Note 8 and Apple Inc. for the iPhone X, the first Apple phone that uses OLED displays. Apple has opted for liquid crystal displays (LCD) up until it applied an OLED screen to the iPhone X, while Samsung Electronics has been using OLED screens for its phones for years.

The growth in the market is expected to be accelerated as Chinese players such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo are reported to apply OLED panels for their upcoming flagship models.

South Korea’s Samsung Display Co. maintained its lead in the global smartphone OLED display market, accounting for a whopping 97.8 percent share. The market for small- to mid-sized displays (9 inches or smaller) that are mostly applied on smartphones, tablets, wearable devices and other small digital devices was valued at $14 billion in the third quarter, up 20.4 percent from the previous year, according to IHS Markit data. Samsung Display also remained at the top place in this segment by making up a 34.1 percent share, followed by Japan Display with 13.6 percent, LG Display 11.7 percent, Sharp 8.2 percent and Tianma 6.9 percent.

By Hwang Hyung-gyu and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]