Rapid Growth of 40-Inch OLED TVs... LGD the Only Producer

Creating a New Product Category for Small and Medium High-Performance TVs

LG Display's 42-inch Bendable OLED

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As the mid-sized OLED TV market rapidly grows, LG Display, the only company in the world producing 40-inch class OLED TV panels, is expected to benefit.

According to market research firm Omdia on the 26th, sales of 40-inch class (42, 48-inch) OLED TVs are projected to increase from 950,000 units last year to about 1.3 million units this year.

Due to global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war, total TV sales this year are expected to decline by about 3% compared to the previous year, reaching 208.79 million units. However, sales of 40-inch class OLED TVs, which were only 160,000 units when first launched in 2020, have increased annually and are expected to reach 1.5 million units in 2023, about a tenfold increase.

Although TVs have traditionally followed the trend of "the bigger, the better," the discovery of a new customer experience as a "high-performance gaming TV" is expected to drive 40-inch class OLED TVs to grow by 40% year-on-year despite the global TV demand contraction. The share of 40-inch class OLED TVs in total OLED TV sales is also expected to exceed double digits, surpassing 10% for the first time this year.

Currently, LG Display is the only company in the world producing 40-inch class OLED TV panels. Following the existing 48-inch panels, LG Display began mass production of 42-inch OLED TV panels this year to keep pace with the increasing demand for 40-inch class OLED TVs.

OLED TVs, where each pixel emits its own light, offer excellent performance such as infinite contrast ratio for clear and three-dimensional picture quality, the fastest response time among existing panels, and a wide variable refresh rate range, making them well-suited for enjoying console games or high-spec PC games.

An industry insider said, “This breaks the fixed notion of 'the bigger, the better' in TVs and creates a new product category of small to mid-sized high-performance TVs,” adding, “It can be said that they analyzed customer needs and created a niche market.”