Apple Set to Surpass Samsung as Largest Purchaser of AMOLED Displays in 2021

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Apple is set to surpass Samsung as the largest purchaser of AMOLED displays for smartphones later this year following the release of the iPhone 13 lineup, which will push the adoption of flexible AMOLED displays in iPhones to 80%, according to a new report from DigiTimes.

iphone 12 pro display video
Apple adopted flexible AMOLED displays for its entire iPhone 12 lineup and is expected to continue doing so for the 2021 iPhones. According to today's report, which cites estimation numbers from research firm Omdia, Apple is expected to purchase 169 million display panels for the iPhone this year, compared to last year's order of 114.5 million.

The sources cited Omdia estimates as indicating that Apple is expected to increase its AMOLED panels to 169 million pieces for iPhones in 2021 from 114.5 million in 2020, while Samsung's corresponding purchases are estimated to rise slightly to 157 million pieces from 152.3 million.

Samsung Display is expected to remain the largest supplier of AMOLED panels for iPhones in 2021, offering an estimated 110 million pieces, compared to LG Display's 50 million and BOE's nine million, the sources said.

Alongside flexible AMOLED displays for the ‌iPhone 13‌ lineup, higher-end models in the lineup, such as the Pro and Pro Max, are expected to include LTPO backpanel technology. LTPO panels not only help reduce power consumption for the display, which could enable-feature such as an always-on display for the ‌iPhone‌, but it also allows a higher refresh rate.

Apple has been rumored to include a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate in its ‌iPhone‌ for some time; however, none of the rumors have yet proven to be true. Apple was reportedly close to adopting LTPO technology with the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ but likely decided to focus on the introduction of 5G on the ‌iPhone‌ as the main selling point instead. With the ‌iPhone 13‌, Apple is now being widely reported to include LTOP display technology with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Tags: Samsung, AMOLED, digitimes

Top Rated Comments

ian87w Avatar
ian87w
4 weeks ago

Why the sudden increase from Apple? The iPhone 12 release turned out to be a super cycle, but they can't really expect the same thing to happen again this year, can they? And even if they do, the increase implies that it's expected to be a super-er cycle. Why?
This might coincide with the rumor of Apple dropping support for the 6s, a break from last when ios 14 didn’t drop any older iPhones. There are still a lot of people using the 6s phones. This year, if Apple maintained the same pattern, the iPhone 12 will remain in the lineup and get cheaper, and become the cheapest OLED iPhone Apple ever sell. Those things together could trigger more upgrades.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
4 weeks ago

Why the sudden increase from Apple? The iPhone 12 release turned out to be a super cycle, but they can't really expect the same thing to happen again this year, can they? And even if they do, the increase implies that it's expected to be a super-er cycle. Why?
2020: 40% of iPhone lineup was OLED
Today: 60% of lineup is OLED
Sept. 2021: 70% is likely to be OLED

It doesn't have to be a super cycle. Right now, the volume sellers are iPhone 11 and iPhone 12. In September 2021, the XR will likely be discontinued and be replaced by iPhone 11. The iPhone 12 and 12s are OLED, both of which will become volume sellers.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RedTheReader Avatar
RedTheReader
4 weeks ago
Why the sudden increase from Apple? The iPhone 12 release turned out to be a super cycle, but they can't really expect the same thing to happen again this year, can they? And even if they do, the increase implies that it's expected to be a super-er cycle. Why?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
Johnny907
4 weeks ago
1) Samsung makes their own OLED panels.
2) Apple buys OLED panels FROM Samsung.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
_Spinn_
4 weeks ago
That’s a lot of screens. Apple must be planning on selling more of the 13 line than they did with 12 line this year.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bwayne Avatar
bwayne
4 weeks ago
Apple is probably anticipating a huge wave of people upgrading their iPhones now that they’re all crawling out of the cellar and will be seen in public with a 2 year old iPhone 11.

I’ll be replacing my iPhone XS with the new 5G mini iPad when that comes out. Makes more sense to me these days.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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