[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Foldable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels are expected to experience high growth at an average annual rate of over 60% for the next five years due to the popularity of foldable phones.

According to market research firm Omdia on the 19th, shipments of foldable OLEDs are projected to surge from 10 million units this year to 66 million units by 2025, recording an average annual growth rate of 61% over the next five years. With such rapid growth, shipments are expected to surpass 100 million units by 2028, with foldable OLEDs applied to one out of every ten OLED smartphones.

The revenue scale is also expected to increase from $1.61 billion (approximately 1.9 trillion KRW) during the same period to $8.26 billion by 2025, with an average annual growth rate reaching 50%. Meanwhile, revenue related to general standard displays is expected to decline by more than 10%, from $30.79366 billion this year to $27.57259 billion in 2025, indicating that the revenue share of foldable OLEDs will gradually expand.

Currently, Samsung Display supplies all foldable OLEDs. According to Omdia, Samsung Display shipped 3.7 million foldable OLED units in the third quarter of this year, when the supply of the Galaxy Z series began in earnest. This figure corresponds to a 100% market share, and shipments are expected to increase to 4.5 million units in the fourth quarter. Although Chinese display companies CSOT and BOE are reportedly preparing for mass production of foldable OLEDs, their scale is not yet significant, so industry observers expect Samsung Display's dominance in foldable OLEDs to continue for some time.

Foldable OLEDs are expected to rapidly expand their market due to the popularity of foldable phones. Following Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip, the three major Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, as well as Google, are preparing to launch foldable phones after the end of this year, which is expected to lead to full-scale expansion starting next year. Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip surpassed 1 million units sold domestically within 39 days of launch.