oled vs lcd displays made in china

► When the leading Korean players Samsung Display and LG Display exit LCD production, BOE will be the most significant player in the LCD market. Though OLED can replace the LCD, it will take years for it to be fully replaced.

► As foreign companies control evaporation material and machines, panel manufacturers seek a cheaper way to mass-produce OLED panels – inkjet printing.

When mainstream consumer electronics brands choose their device panels, the top three choices are Samsung Display, LG Display (LGD) and BOE (000725:SZ) – the first two from Korea and the third from China. From liquid-crystal displays (LCD) to active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), display panel technology has been upgrading with bigger screen products.

From the early 1990s, LCDs appeared and replaced cathode-ray tube (CRT) screens, which enabled lighter and thinner display devices. Japanese electronics companies like JDI pioneered the panel technology upgrade while Samsung Display and LGD were nobodies in the field. Every technology upgrade or revolution is a chance for new players to disrupt the old paradigm.

LCD panel makers have been striving to realize bigger-size products in the past four decades. The technology breakthrough of Gen 5 in 2002 made big-screen LCD TV available and it sent Samsung Display and LGD to the front row, squeezing the market share of Japanese panel makers.

The throne chair of LCD passed from Japanese companies to Korean enterprises – and now Chinese players are clinching it, replacing the Koreans. After twenty years of development, Chinese panel makers have mastered LCD panel technology and actively engage in large panel R&D projects. Mass production created a supply surplus that led to drops in LCD price. In May 2020, Samsung Display announced that it would shut down all LCD fabs in China and Korea but concentrate on quantum dot LCD (Samsung calls it QLED) production; LGD stated that it would close LCD TV panel fabs in Korea and focus on organic LED (OLED). Their retreats left BOE and China Stars to digest the LCD market share.

Consumer preference has been changing during the Korean fab"s recession: Bigger-or-not is fine but better image quality ranks first. While LCD needs the backlight to show colors and substrates for the liquid crystal layer, OLED enables lighter and flexible screens (curvy or foldable), higher resolution and improved color display. It itself can emit lights – no backlight or liquid layer is needed. With the above advantages, OLED has been replacing the less-profitable LCD screens.

Samsung Display has been the major screen supplier for high-end consumer electronics, like its own flagship cell phone products and Apple"s iPhone series. LGD dominated the large OLED TV market as it is the one that handles large-size OLED mass production. To further understand Korean panel makers" monopolizing position, it is worth mentioning fine metal mask (FMM), a critical part of the OLED RGB evaporation process – a process in OLED mass production that significantly affects the yield rate.

Prior to 2018, Samsung Display and DNP"s monopolistic supply contract prevented other panel fabs from acquiring quality FMM products as DNP bonded with Hitachi Metal, the "only" FMM material provider choice for OLED makers. After the contract expired, panel makers like BOE could purchase FFM from DNP for their OLED R&D and mass production. Except for FFM materials, vacuum evaporation equipment is dominated by Canon Tokki, a Japanese company. Its role in the OLED industry resembles that of ASML in the integrated circuit space. Canon Tokki"s annual production of vacuum evaporation equipment is fewer than ten and thereby limits the total production of OLED panels that rely on evaporation technology.

The shortage of equipment and scarcity of materials inspired panel fabs to explore substitute technology; they discovered that inkjet printing has the potential to be the thing to replace evaporation. Plus, evaporation could be applied to QLED panels as quantum dots are difficult to be vaporized. Inkjet printing prints materials (liquefied organic gas or quantum dots) to substrates, saving materials and breaking free from FMM"s size restriction. With the new tech, large-size OLED panels can theoretically be recognized with improved yield rate and cost-efficiency. However, the tech is at an early stage when inkjet printing precision could not meet panel manufacturers" requirements.

Display and LGD are using evaporation on their OLED products. To summarize, OLED currently adopts evaporation and QLED must go with inkjet printing, but evaporation is a more mature tech. Technology adoption will determine a different track for the company to pursue. With inkjet printing technology, players are at a similar starting point, which is a chance for all to run to the front – so it is for Chinese panel fabs. Certainly, panel production involves more technologies (like flexible panels) than evaporation or inkjet printing and only mastering all required technologies can help a company to compete at the same level.

Presently, Chinese panel fabs are investing heavily in OLED production while betting on QLED. BOE has four Gen 6 OLED product lines, four Gen 8.5 and one Gen 10.5 LCD lines; China Star, controlled by the major appliance titan TCL, has invested two Gen 6 OLED fabs and four large-size LCD product lines.

Remembering the last "regime change" that occurred in 2005 when Korean fabs overtook Japanese" place in the LCD market, the new phase of panel technology changed the outlook of the industry. Now, OLED or QLED could mark the perfect time for us to expect landscape change.

After Samsung Display and LGD ceding from LCD TV productions, the vacant market share will be digested by BOE, China Star and other LCD makers. Indeed, OLED and QLED have the potential to take over the LCD market in the future, but the process may take more than a decade. Korean companies took ten years from panel fab"s research on OLED to mass production of small- and medium-size OLED electronics. Yet, LCD screen cell phones are still available in the market.

LCD will not disappear until OLED/QLED"s cost control can compete with it. The low- to middle-end panel market still prefers cheap LCD devices and consumers are satisfied with LCD products – thicker but cheaper. BOE has been the largest TV panel maker since 2019. As estimated by Informa, BOE and China Star will hold a duopoly on the flat panel display market.

BOE"s performance seems to have ridden on a roller coaster ride in the past several years. Large-size panel mass production like Gen 8.5 and Gen 10.5 fabs helped BOE recognize the first place in production volume. On the other side, expanded large-size panel factories and expenses of OLED product lines are costly: BOE planned to spend CNY 176.24 billion (USD 25.92 billion) – more than Tibet"s 2019 GDP CNY 169.78 billion – on Chengdu and Mianyang"s Gen 6 AMOLED lines and Hefei and Wuhan"s Gen 10.5 LCD lines.

Except for making large-size TVs, bigger panels can cut out more display screens for smaller devices like laptops and cell phones, which are more profitable than TV products. On its first-half earnings concall, BOE said that it is shifting its production focus to cell phone and laptop products as they are more profitable than TV products. TV, IT and cell phone products counted for 30%, 44% and 33% of its productions respectively and the recent rising TV price may lead to an increased portion of TV products in the short term.

Except for outdoor large screens, TV is another driver that pushes panel makers to research on how to make bigger and bigger screens. A research done by CHEARI showed that Chinese TV sales dropped by 10.6% to CNY 128.2 billion from 2018 to 2019. Large-size TV sales increased as a total but the unit price decreased; high-end products like laser TV and OLED TV saw a strong growth of 131.2% and 34.1%, respectively.

If you’re designing a display application or deciding what type of TV to get, you’ll probably have to choose between an OLED or LCD as your display type.

LCDs utilize liquid crystals that produce an image when light is passed through the display. OLED displays generate images by applying electricity to organic materials inside the display.OLED and LCD Main Difference:

graphics and images visible. This is the reason you’re still able to see light coming through on images that are meant to be dark on an LCD monitor, display, or television.

OLEDs by comparison, deliver a drastically higher contrast by dynamically managing their individual pixels. When an image on an OLED display uses the color black, the pixel shuts off completely and renders a much higher contrast than that of LCDs.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at contrast?

Having a high brightness level is important if your display is going to be used in direct sunlight or somewhere with high ambient brightness. The display"s brightness level isn"t as important if it’s going to be used indoors or in a low light setting.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at Brightness?

This means the display is much thinner than LCD displays and their pixels are much closer to the surface of the display, giving them an inherently wider viewing angle.

You’ll often notice images becoming distorted or losing their colors when tilting an LCD or when you view it from different angles. However, many LCDs now include technology to compensate for this – specifically In-Plane Switching (IPS).

LCDs with IPS are significantly brighter than standard LCDs and offer viewing angles that are on-par with OLEDs.OLED vs LCD - Who is better at Viewing Angles?

LCDs have been on the market much longer than OLEDs, so there is more data to support their longevity. On average LCDs have proven to perform for around 60,000 hours (2,500) days of operation.

With most LCDs you can expect about 7 years of consistent performance. Some dimming of the backlight has been observed but it is not significant to the quality of the display.

OLEDs are a newer technology in the display market, which makes them harder to fully review. Not only does OLED technology continue to improve at a rapid pace, but there also hasn’t been enough time to thoroughly observe their performance.

You must also consider OLED’s vulnerability to image burn-in. The organic material in these displays can leave a permanent afterimage on the display if a static image is displayed for too long.

So depending on how your OLED is used, this can greatly affect its lifespan. An OLED being used to show static images for long periods of time will not have the same longevity as one displaying dynamic, constantly moving images.OLED vs LCD - Which one last longer?

There is not yet a clear winner when it comes to lifespans between LCD and OLED displays. Each have their advantages depending on their use-cases. It’s a tie!

For a display application requiring the best colors, contrast, and viewing angles – especially for small and lightweight wearable devices – we would suggest an OLED display.

It is the first time that China took over the No. 1 spot in the display market, which Korea has always been a leader in. The title of “the strongest country in display market” is lost after 17 years. It would not be possible to reclaim the No. 1 spot if Korea cannot find a way to expand investment in next-generation displays such as organic light emitting diodes (OLED).

According to market research firm Omdia, China recorded $64.8 billion in sales including LCD and OLED in the global display market last year. China took over Korea’s No. 1 spot with a market share of 41.5%. Korea"s market share fell 8.3 points (p) to 33.2%. This is the first time since 2004, in 17 years, that Korea had to hand over the No. 1 spot. Korea had a 9.4 p advantage in market share over China up until 2019.

China overtook Korea and seized power in the LCD market by offering a low-priced products. BOE, China"s largest panel manufacturer, has become the world"s largest LCD manufacturer with help of the subsidy from the Chinese government. LCD sales was $28.6 billion last year, accounting for 26.3% of the total LCD market. The sales of Chinese companies such as BOE, CSOT, Tianma, and Visionox increased significantly as demand for TV and information technology (IT) devices increased with the prolonged COVID 19 and increased price of LCD panel.

After taken over in the LCD market, Korea is focusing on the highly-valued OLED market. Samsung Display and LG Display are transforming their LCD production lines to OLED. Korea is the No. 1 with 82.3% of the global OLED market shares according to Omdia, and China’s market share only accounts for16.6%.

China"s dominance is expected to continue for some time because the large display market such as TVs and laptops still depends on LCD. Only when Korea starts to reduce OLED panel prices by mass producing OLED, then Korea can replace the LCD market led by China.

Samsung Display and LG Display were not able to make a decision on investment plans for large OLED plants due to problems with yield and investment funds. Samsung and LG are expected to invest more than KRW 7 trillion in OLED facilities this year according to the industry. Mass production from these companies is expected to begin in the second half of next year even when new and expanding existing investments are made this year.

China has also started to narrow the gap with Korea in OLED industry. BOE and other companies have commercialized OLED for small and medium-sized displays such as mobile, laptop, and tablet. Following LCD market, China is threatening Korea in OLED market as well as China expands OLED market share mainly in the Chinese smartphone market.

Critics are pointing out that Korea needs to expand in OLED market and develop new technologies in order to maintain the OLED gap with China. Korea must take control over the large TV panel market, which has a large technological gap with China, and create a new form factor with new technologies such as flexible, rollable, and bendable panels.

Employees put finishing touches to TV displays at a production facility in Suining, Sichuan province, in November. [Photo by Liu Changsong/For China Daily]

China is set to take a lead in the state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) semiconductor display technology, which has broad application prospects in the field of high-end smartphones, televisions, wearable devices, augmented reality and virtual reality display segments, industry analysts said.

OLED is a relatively new technology and part of the recent innovations in displays. It has a fast response rate, wide viewing angles, super high-contrast images and richer colors. It is thinner and can be made flexible and foldable, compared with the traditional LCD display panel.

The shipment of OLED panels used in smartphones is expected to rise to about 100 million units in the Chinese market this year from 83 million units last year, as major smartphone makers have ramped up efforts to launch foldable handsets, said Sigmaintell Consulting, a Beijing-based market research firm.

Display panel supplier BOE Technology Group Co Ltd topped the domestic market with OLED panel shipments of 16 million units in the third quarter. It became the world"s second-largest OLED maker next to South Korea"s Samsung Display. Visionox Technology Inc took second place domestically with shipments of 6.3 million units in the third quarter.

China will overtake South Korea to become the biggest OLED manufacturer by 2024, as more Chinese companies have invested heavily in new OLED production lines, said Zhou Hua, chief analyst at CINNO Research, a Chinese flat panel display consultancy firm.

Zhou said that at present, China has become the world"s largest display panel producer, and is foreseen accounting for about 76 percent of global OLED production capacity by 2025.

Li Yaqin, general manager of Sigmaintell, said demand for flexible OLED panels used in foldable smartphones will continue to increase this year on the back of commercial application of 5G technology, and panel makers should further improve their yield rate capacities and reduce production costs.

According to market research company Omdia, OLED panel shipments for smartphones will reach 812 million units globally next year, an increase of 38.8 percent compared with the estimated 585 million units in 2021.

Chinese smartphone makers have increased the number of high-end smartphones integrating flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes, or AMOLED, panels, said Brian Huh, principal analyst of small and medium-sized displays at Omdia.

Xu Fengying, vice-president of Visionox, said AMOLED panels will have wider applications in smartphones, computers, smart wearables, vehicles, virtual reality and augmented reality because of surging demand for flexible display screens.

"The AMOLED market will continue to grow, and the penetration rate of flexible display products is expected to rise," said Zhu Xiujian, general manager of Visionox"s product engineering center, adding the flexible and foldable screens will play a vital role in bolstering the growth of small and medium-sized smartphones.

Chinese television maker Skyworth Group has been producing OLED TVs in partnership with South Korea"s largest panel maker, LG Display, since 2013. Other home appliance manufacturers such as Hisense, Konka, Huawei and Sony have also tapped into the OLED TV market.

OLED TVs will become the future development direction of the TV industry and present an opportunity for TV manufacturers to expand their profit margins, said Wen Jianping, president of Beijing-based market consultancy All View Cloud.

Over the years, with the wider and wider application of LCD screens, more and more brand products have been favored by the people. Together, more and more LCD manufacturers have emerged. Of course, the most popular brands in China are BOE, INNOLUX, CHIMEI, AUO, CSOT, etc. So, Which is the best brand of

It is better to say who is more professional than good or bad. In fact, the above mentioned LCD screen manufacturers are very professional, and the quality is guaranteed. But the most popular must be BOE and INNOLUX, these two panel manufacturers are also obvious to all. They all have multiple distributors, but not every distributor has the best size and price.

SZ XIANHENG TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. is the agent of AUO, BOE, INNOLUX, SHARP, IVO and Mitsubishi, and other domestic and foreign well-known brands of small and medium-sized LCD display; specializing in customized production of touch screen display, LCD and industrial touch display and other high-tech products. According to the needs of customers, we can provide various LCD products: high-brightness LCD screen, LCD driver board, touch screen, booster board, all kinds of LCD special wires, etc. to produce industrial displays.

What brand of LCD screen is good? If you choose BOE, INNOLUX, CHIMEI, AUO or CSOT, you can buy them from us. 18.5 inch LCD screen, 21.5 inch LCD screen and other small and medium size, our price is the lowest in the industry.

In recent time, China domestic companies like BOE have overtaken LCD manufacturers from Korea and Japan. For the first three quarters of 2020, China LCD companies shipped 97.01 million square meters TFT LCD. And China"s LCD display manufacturers expect to grab 70% global LCD panel shipments very soon.

BOE started LCD manufacturing in 1994, and has grown into the largest LCD manufacturers in the world. Who has the 1st generation 10.5 TFT LCD production line. BOE"s LCD products are widely used in areas like TV, monitor, mobile phone, laptop computer etc.

TianMa Microelectronics is a professional LCD and LCM manufacturer. The company owns generation 4.5 TFT LCD production lines, mainly focuses on making medium to small size LCD product. TianMa works on consult, design and manufacturing of LCD display. Its LCDs are used in medical, instrument, telecommunication and auto industries.

TCL CSOT (TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd), established in November, 2009. TCL has six LCD panel production lines commissioned, providing panels and modules for TV and mobile products. The products range from large, small & medium display panel and touch modules.

Everdisplay Optronics (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.(EDO) is a company dedicated to production of small-to-medium AMOLED display and research of next generation technology. The company currently has generation 4.5 OLED line.

Established in 1996, Topway is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the design and manufacturing of industrial LCD module. Topway"s TFT LCD displays are known worldwide for their flexible use, reliable quality and reliable support. More than 20 years expertise coupled with longevity of LCD modules make Topway a trustworthy partner for decades. CMRC (market research institution belonged to Statistics China before) named Topway one of the top 10 LCD manufactures in China.

Established in 2013, Eternal Material Technology is committed to the research, development and manufacturing of electronic materials and providing technical services. EMT is leading the industry with its products of OLED and color photoresist materials.

The Company engages in the R&D, manufacturing, and sale of LCD panels. It offers LCD panels for notebook computers, desktop computer monitors, LCD TV sets, vehicle-mounted IPC, consumer electronics products, mobile devices, tablet PCs, desktop PCs, and industrial displays.

Founded in 2008，Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology Co.,Ltd. dedicated themselves to developing high definition AMOLED (Active Matrix-Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and micro-displays.

By Kim Bo-eunKorea"s display makers currently lead the global market in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) displays, but they have been growing increasingly alarmed by how fast Chinese rivals have caught up in terms of technology.They worry that they may lose their competitive edge in OLED technology, which is what happened with liquid crystal displays (LCD), where Chinese players now account for close to 60 percent of the global market share. Korean display makers are eyeing the timing of exiting the LCD market, given their profitability has deteriorated due to Chinese players that offer the panels at lower prices.OLEDs are considered as the next-generation display, because the panels are thinner, lighter and show improved picture quality compared to LCDs.Market researchers forecast that Chinese players will quickly expand their share of the market for small-and medium-sized OLEDs used in smartphones.According to Omdia, Chinese companies are expected to account for 27 percent of the global market for smartphone OLED panels next year, up from 15 percent this year. Samsung Display, the market leader in small- and medium-sized OLEDs, is subsequently set to see its market share fall to 65 percent next year from 77 percent this year.The figures are projections based on forecasted panel shipments according to investments into production facilities and market conditions.Chinese companies caught up with Korean LCD manufacturers in a matter of years after a decade of Korea"s dominance from the mid-2000s to 2016, backed by substantial financial support from Beijing.The Chinese government is now backing the development of OLED displays, which has Korean players on their toes, given it could be only a matter of years before Chinese rivals end up dominating the market.Chinese companies are moving quickly to set up large-scale production bases to churn out OLEDs. BOE is constructing a production plant for smaller OLEDs in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. The OLED production line is set to be the largest for a single factory in China, producing 115 million panels on an annual basis.Chinese players have not yet started production of large-size OLED panels, but they have entered mass production of smaller panels and are supplying them to major companies."The technological gap between Korean and Chinese companies" small-size OLED displays has narrowed significantly," an industry official said."For large-size OLED displays for TVs, we estimate that Chinese players are three to four years behind in technology, but they could catch up in a year or an even shorter time span."Chinese firms are scouting key personnel at Korean display makers by offering significantly greater compensation to secure technology, a practice that has been going on for years.Meanwhile, Chinese players are known to receive up to 70 percent in financial support from the central as well as local governments when setting up production facilities.Local display manufacturers are calling for OLED technology to be included among the country"s strategic technology sectors that receive support in R&D and facility investments. The government is currently seeking to include semiconductors, EV batteries and vaccines in these sectors receiving state support.

According to the Korean media reports, BOE’s OLED screen will give a strong competition to Samsung in the next 2 years. BOE may start shipping the OLED panels to Apple in 2020. According to the South Korean analysts, BOE will ship 45 million OLED panels for the iPhone in 2021.

Samsung will still keep the bulk of iPhone orders, but the orders have dropped last year. Samsung has been the biggest OLED display supplier to Apple’s iPhone in 2017.

It was first suggested back in 2017 that BOE was pitching Apple for OLED orders, with a report in February of this year that Apple was considering this. The idea was boosted by a subsequent report that BOE was investing in the same next-generation OLED tech as Samsung.

Existing iPhone screens have a separate touch-sensitive layer which sits on top of the actual display. But Samsung offers a next-generation design known as touch-integrated flexible OLED panels which, as the name suggests, allow both jobs to be achieved within a single layer.

Apple likes to diversify its supply-chain, one reason it has supported rescue plans for Japan Display, another potential supplier of OLED screens for future iPhones. So both Chinese-made OLED screens and Japanese ones are likely to be on the cards in the next few years.

China is set to take a lead in the state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) semiconductor display technology, which has broad application prospects in the field of high-end smartphones, televisions, wearable devices, augmented reality and virtual reality display segments, industry analysts said.

OLED is a relatively new technology and part of the recent innovations in displays. It has a fast response rate, wide viewing angles, super high-contrast images and richer colors. It is thinner and can be made flexible and foldable, compared with the traditional LCD display panel.

The shipment of OLED panels used in smartphones is expected to rise to about 100 million units in the Chinese market this year from 83 million units last year, as major smartphone makers have ramped up efforts to launch foldable handsets, said Sigmaintell Consulting, a Beijing-based market research firm.

Display panel supplier BOE Technology Group Co Ltd topped the domestic market with OLED panel shipments of 16 million units in the third quarter. It became the world"s second-largest OLED maker next to South Korea"s Samsung Display. Visionox Technology Inc took second place domestically with shipments of 6.3 million units in the third quarter.

China will overtake South Korea to become the biggest OLED manufacturer by 2024, as more Chinese companies have invested heavily in new OLED production lines, said Zhou Hua, chief analyst at CINNO Research, a Chinese flat panel display consultancy firm.

Zhou said that at present, China has become the world"s largest display panel producer, and is foreseen accounting for about 76 percent of global OLED production capacity by 2025.

Li Yaqin, general manager of Sigmaintell, said demand for flexible OLED panels used in foldable smartphones will continue to increase this year on the back of commercial application of 5G technology, and panel makers should further improve their yield rate capacities and reduce production costs.

According to market research company Omdia, OLED panel shipments for smartphones will reach 812 million units globally next year, an increase of 38.8 percent compared with the estimated 585 million units in 2021.

Chinese smartphone makers have increased the number of high-end smartphones integrating flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes, or AMOLED, panels, said Brian Huh, principal analyst of small and medium-sized displays at Omdia.

Xu Fengying, vice-president of Visionox, said AMOLED panels will have wider applications in smartphones, computers, smart wearables, vehicles, virtual reality and augmented reality because of surging demand for flexible display screens.

"The AMOLED market will continue to grow, and the penetration rate of flexible display products is expected to rise," said Zhu Xiujian, general manager of Visionox"s product engineering center, adding the flexible and foldable screens will play a vital role in bolstering the growth of small and medium-sized smartphones.

Chinese television maker Skyworth Group has been producing OLED TVs in partnership with South Korea"s largest panel maker, LG Display, since 2013. Other home appliance manufacturers such as Hisense, Konka, Huawei and Sony have also tapped into the OLED TV market.

OLED TVs will become the future development direction of the TV industry and present an opportunity for TV manufacturers to expand their profit margins, said Wen Jianping, president of Beijing-based market consultancy All View Cloud.

It appears too soon to say that Samsung Display and LG Display, the nation’s top display makers, will exit from the less lucrative LCD market amid a cutthroat competition with Chinese rivals with cheaper pricing.

Until a few years ago, the two firms had hinted at retiring from the old-school LCD business to focus on more advanced technologies such as upgraded LCDs or OLEDs to widen the gap with Chinese runner-ups.

But experts here say there has been a sign of change in the attitudes more recently, pointing out that their full shutdown of LCD operations ultimately would hinge on elevating profitability of their high-end push.

In 2020 alone, Samsung Display posted a deficit of more than 1 trillion won ($841.5 million) in its LCD business. But it has no other option but to continue production to meet the demand from its parent Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest TV maker.

The firm last year sold its LCD production facility in China to its Chinese rival TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology, a key supplier to Samsung TVs. But the LCD line in Suzhou, China recently cut its panel supply almost in half, with Samsung’s display unit highly likely to be tasked with filling the void.

“(Samsung Electronics) have few choices but to contract with Samsung Display to make up for its LCD TV set capacity,” said Yi Choong-hoon, chief analyst at UBI Research.

This put Samsung Display‘s full exit plan in disarray. After the sell-off of the Chinese facility, the firm is also scaling down its LCD plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, to convert part of the facilities to its quantum-dot OLED lines to supply to set makers including Japanese firm Sony.

LG Display’s LCD business -- with production lines in Paju, Gyeonggi Province and Guangzhou, China -- is poised to generate 2.5 trillion won in operating profit for 2021, up fourfold from the previous year, according to Kim Jung-hwan, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, on Thursday.

This comes in sharp contrast with OLED TV earnings estimate. According to Kim, LG Display‘s OLED TV operations will post 152 billion won in operating loss, as its fourth-quarter forecast to generate 62 billion won income was dwarfed by 214 billion won losses for the previous three quarters. Since inception, LG’s OLED panel business has been in the red due to heavy spending.

Now, the question is whether the company is ready to be fully dedicated to next-generational OLED panels for premium TVs featuring self-lit pixels. Yi of UBI Research says it is too premature.

“A bigger penetration of OLED TVs to consumers is a prerequisitie for a conversion of (LG Display’s) existing LCD TV lines to OLED TV lines,” he said.

Analysts also said LG Display has already streamlined its LCD TV lines under a series of restructuring of LCD TV lines, including a conversion to lines for IT devices including mobile phones.

“(LG Display‘s) LCD TV fabs with low profit margin have completed a retreat in the first half of 2021,” said Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities. “LG is now capable of maintaining LCD capacity with a decent profit margin.”

This comes against the backdrop of industry projections that LCD TV panel prices continue to fall steadily over the course of the first quarter, and Chinese rivals are forecast to ramp up dominance in LCD market,

According to US-based market intelligence firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, Chinese firms’ LCD market share on a capacity basis are forecast to rise to 71 percent by 2025, from 53 percent in 2020, far outpacing Korea, Japan and Taiwan, as of June 2020.

Another estimate, released earlier this week, showed the price for LCD TV panels regardless of size -- ranging from 32- to 65-inch -- is projected to fall until March, giving up almost entire gains from July 2020 to July 2021 that is partly attributable to announced exits of Korean LCD panel makers.