The market for LEDs used in phones (including for display backlights, keypad illumination and camera flash) will fall at a 2.6% CAGR between 2015 and 2021, says IHS Markit. The rising penetration of OLED display technology is given as the reason.
IHS expects OLED display penetration to rise from 13% of mobile phones in 2015 to 34% in 2021. Strong demand from Chinese brands will be a key driver. While LED backlighting revenue in the sector was estimated to have reached $686 million last year, this is forecast to decline to $455 million in 2021.
Almost all mobile phones shipped in 2015 had at least one camera, and 86% had two (although not all cameras used a flash). IHS expects the LED camera flash market for mobiles to fall slightly this year, due to lower mobile phone shipments overall. However, the market will begin to grow again between 2017 and 2020, due to the rising penetration of colour LEDs and secondary camera flash applications.
LEDs used in mobile phone keypads will decline, but these represent a very small part of the market.
