Smartphones drive robust demand for AMOLED: report

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Global demand for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays is expected to remain robust thanks to their increased use in smartphones, a report said Friday.

“Our channel checks indicate that Samsung is likely to expand its AMOLED capacity from July 2012 to meet robust demand for AMOLED-based smartphones. We expect AMOLED equipment vendors to benefit from this development,” said Shin So-yun, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, in the report.

AMOLED displays are mostly used in mobile phones and small-screen tablet computers.

South Korea’s Samsung Mobile Display Co., a Samsung Electronics Co. affiliate, has been the world’s No. 1 maker of AMOLED panels by continuously expanding production of the advanced display panels.

LG Display Co., a relative laggard in the AMOLED panel field, has been following suit, expanding production of the displays.

Macquarie Securities said Samsung Mobile Display likely to face tight AMOLED supply through the rest of 2012, thank to strong sales momentum of the Galaxy S III, the latest smartphone released by Samsung Electronics.

“We expect Samsung’s smartphone shipments to increase 35 percent to 129 million units in the second quarter of 2012 from 96 million units in the first quarter of 2012,” Shin said.

The market for AMOLED panels reached $3.36 billion last year, more than doubling from $1.25 billion the previous year.

The global market for AMOLED displays is likely to grow sharply this year as high-end devices such as smartphones continue to gain popularity.