IHS says demand for flexible AMOLEDs to grow slower than the supply, which will lead to low fab utilization in 2018

IHS says that demand for flexible AMOLED displays is growing at a slower pace than expected - and also at a slower rate than its supply, and as a result the demand in 2018 will be 44% lower than the supply.

Flexible OLED supply and demand balance (IHS, 2016-2020)

IHS says that flexible OLED capacity will grow 100% in 2018 (to reach 4.4 million square meters), but demand will only grow 70% (to 2.4 million square meters). IHS says that the high price of flexible OLEDs caused smartphone makers to opt for either rigid (glass-based) OLEDs or LCDs in their 2018 models. IHS estimates that the price gap between a flexible OLED and a rigid OLED on the same 6-Gen line is about 50%.

IHS says that second-tier flexible OLED makers will find the situation especially bad in 2018 and face seriously low fab utilization, as smartphone brands only adopt flexible OLEDs in the highest-end products and these opt for the best flexible AMOLEDs on the market (made by SDC).

 
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Posted: Nov 15,2017 by Ron Mertens