What They Say
Business Korea reports data from Omdia on the notebook market, with forecasts of growth of 17% this year to 258.4 million units, and up from 171.5 million in 2019. Growth was 29% in 2020. OLED notebooks were 150K in 2019 and will grow to 1.48 million this year, and up to 2.57 million in 2022 – around 1% of the market next year.
Omdia is also quoting as saying that it thought ‘OLED panel sales volume is expected to quintuple this year’. We’re assuming it means for notebooks and monitors but the report was not clear.
What We Think
Around 17 or 18 years ago, I remamber Barry Young saying that the ‘natural market for OLEDs’ was the portable DVD player. As it turned out, that market didn’t develop, but partly because the iPhone became the default device for mobile video. The point then, and now, is that OLED is great if you are showing video and you need to save weight and bulk. However, in IT, the largely white screens mean more power consumption and risks of burn-in. Still, thin and light are compelling advantages. (BR)
Update – DSCC and other analysts quoted much higher figures for OLED notebooks just a couple of days after this post, so we have reached out to Omdia to get their comments. (BR)
