On March 15, according to BusinessKorea, in 2021, Samsung Electronics’ LCD panel smartphone shipments will exceed OLED panel models. In response, analysts said Samsung Electronics has adopted a cost-cutting strategy to cope with an expected rise in smartphone prices as parts shortages continue around the world.
Samsung Electronics will ship 135.8 million LCD smartphones in 2021, compared with 135.1 million OLED smartphones, according to market research firm Omdia. Compared with the previous year, shipments of LCD smartphones increased by about 41%, while shipments of OLED models fell by about 15%.
Samsung’s profitability has improved due to increased shipments of LCD smartphones, the report said. In fact, Samsung Electronics has been playing a major role in driving the growth of the OLED smartphone market since 2010, expanding the use of OLED panels from high-end smartphones to affordable products.
However, analysts said Samsung Electronics is expanding LCD smartphone shipments in 2021 in order to reduce costs. That’s because prices for parts of smartphones, including application processors (APs), integrated circuits (ICs) and modem chips for 5G mobile communications, have soared last year.
In addition, analysts also predict that the OLED smartphone market will slow down in 2022, unlike in previous years. According to Counterpoint Research, smartphone companies will adopt OLED at 42% in 2021, up 10 percentage points from 2020. However, the ratio is expected to grow by only 2 percentage points in 2022.