Nearly half of mobile phones sold in 2022 may be equipped with OLED panels

A new report shows that nearly half of all smartphones sold in 2022 will be equipped with OLED panels. This is a sign of the growing popularity of OLED display technology in the smartphone market.

According to a report from TrendForce, 39.8% of all smartphones sold this year are expected to feature OLED panels. On the other hand, 45% of the total number of phones sold next year are expected to feature this type of display. The research and analysis firm added that the wider adoption of AMOLED and OLED display technology by major smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung is one of the main reasons for the jump in market share of OLED-equipped devices.

Nevertheless, the supply of display driver ICs for OLED panels cannot keep up with the current high demand. These chips are relatively larger than other chips, so fewer chips can be manufactured per wafer, the report added. Most display driver ICs use 40nm to 28nm processes. So far, only a few foundries such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, UMC and GlobalFoundries are capable of producing OLED display driver ICs.

However, among these chip manufacturing giants, only TSMC, Samsung and UMC can obtain enough wafers to produce display drivers.