The small-and-medium (9″ and smaller) display market was flat in terms of both shipments and revenue in 2015, says IHS. 2.8 billion units were shipped and revenue was up 4%, to $43.9 billion.
Although overall shipments did not grow, AMOLED and LTPS displays saw their market share rise, due to demand for high-resolution smartphone screens. AMOLED shipments rose 54% YoY and LTPS TFT LCD shipments were up 10%. a-Si TFT LCD shipments, however, fell 10% as a result.
“To compete in the increasingly saturated small-medium display market, smartphone manufacturers are shifting from a-Si TFT display technology to high-performance displays that rely on AMOLED and LTPS TFT technology,” said IHS’ Hiroshi Hayase. “In fact, with Apple’s iPhone line reportedly relying on AMOLED in the future, Japan Display and Sharp officially announced that by 2018 they would invest in mass production of AMOLED displays, joining leading AMOLED suppliers Samsung Display and LG Display.” (see our article Sharp Releases More Information in this issue for more on this)
Samsung Display led the small-and-medium display market last year, with a 23% revenue share. Japan Display (16%), LG Display (13%) and Sharp (10%) followed.
