Samsung Display (SDC) has projected a cautious outlook for the first quarter of this year due to weak global demand in both the smartphone and IT markets. During a conference call following its fourth quarter 2024 earnings announcement, an SDC spokesperson outlined the conservative forecast and highlighted strategic initiatives designed to address challenging market conditions.
SDC noted that for its small and medium-sized business segment, which includes OLED panels for smartphones, IT products, and automotive applications and accounts for over 90% of its total sales, market demand is expected to remain weak in Q1, reflecting the subdued performance seen in Q4 2024. In response to this anticipated slowdown, SDC is working to meet major customer requirements for new products while also expanding its sales efforts.
By contrast, the company’s large business unit, focused on QD-OLED panels for high-brightness TVs and high-resolution monitors, has a promising year . Although this segment represents less than 5% of total sales, it experienced double-digit growth in Q4 2024. This improvement was largely attributed to increased TV sales during the year-end peak season and enhanced operational productivity.
Looking ahead to 2025, SDC expects that while the smartphone market may stagnate amid ongoing global economic uncertainty, the adoption of OLED technology in smartphones is likely to increase. SDC expressed confidence in maintaining a leadership position in the high-end segment through advantages such as low power consumption, design differentiation, and an expanded product lineup, despite intensifying competition among panel makers in the smartphone OLED market.
SDC is also preparing to accelerate its OLED expansion into the IT and automotive sectors. The company is set to begin mass production of its 8th generation IT OLED panels—a sector that has seen significant investment from both SDC and BOE, even as competitors like LG Display adopt a more cautious approach amid uncertain market demand.
| (₩Trillions) | Sales | Operating Income |
| 2016 | ₩26.93 | ₩2.23 |
| 2017 | ₩34.47 | ₩5.40 |
| 2018 | ₩32.47 | ₩2.62 |
| 2019 | ₩31.05 | ₩1.58 |
| 2020 | ₩30.59 | ₩2.24 |
| 2021 | ₩31.71 | ₩4.46 |
| 2022 | ₩34.38 | ₩5.95 |
| 2023 | ₩30.98 | ₩5.57 |
| 2024 | ₩29.20 | ₩3.70 |
| ($Billions) | Sales | Operating Income |
| 2016 | $20.73 | $1.72 |
| 2017 | $26.53 | $4.16 |
| 2018 | $24.98 | $2.02 |
| 2019 | $23.88 | $1.22 |
| 2020 | $23.57 | $1.72 |
| 2021 | $24.38 | $3.43 |
| 2022 | $26.45 | $4.58 |
| 2023 | $23.82 | $4.28 |
| 2024 | $22.46 | $2.85 |
The fourth quarter of 2024 showed mixed results. The small and medium-sized business segment experienced a decline in profit due to a sluggish smartphone market and increased competition, while the IT and automotive segments recorded robust, double-digit QoQ sales growth. Even though there was a reduction in smartphone OLED shipments (over two-thirds of SDC’s operating profit) the company is implementing strategic measures to enhance product differentiation. This comes at a time when SDC faces intensifying competition from LG Display with Apple OLED sales, with LG significantly increasing its shipments in 2024 while SDC saw a decline in volume.
In hard currency, SDC recorded sales of $22.5 billion and an operating profit of $2.8 billion for 2024. This marked the first time in eight years that annual sales fell below $23 billion, along with a 33% YoY drop in operating profit. The company also reported capital expenditures of 4.8 trillion won ($3.7 billion) in 2024, which was lower than its initial forecast of 5.6 trillion won ($4.3 billion).
As for the future, SDC emphasized that integrating AI functions will be a key differentiator for its next-generation smartphone OLED panels. The company anticipates that the expansion of AI capabilities will drive demand for panels with lower power consumption and innovative form factors. To secure a technological edge, SDC is concentrating on developing technologies to reduce power consumption in backplanes, materials, and drives, and it plans to extend the use of low-power panel structures across a variety of products. Additionally, the company is committed to improving the durability and performance of foldable phones.
