According to our latest research, global smartphone shipment will increase 7% in 2017.  AMOLED-equipped smartphone will enjoy a 14.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2017 and 2022, at the expense of LCD-equipped smartphone which will post a -0.4% CAGR during the same period.

AMOLED’s momentum is backed by the wide popularity of AMOLED-equipped smartphones, like S8 series from Samsung, R series from OPPO, and X series from vivo. It is also stimulated by the widely-shared expectation that Apple's upcoming iPhone8/iPhone X will adopt flexible AMOLED display. Behind its popularity, it is AMOLED's strong technical advantage over LCD as a smartphone display.

We believe AMOLED display will continue to be an effective differentiator for smartphone vendors in 2017 and in 2018, backed by its technological advantage as well as its supply shortage. Smartphone vendors will compete fiercely for the component. As a result, vendors with more scale, more financial muscles, and stronger relationship with display supplier will enjoy a better position to access these components. We expect Samsung and Apple will be the winners for AMOLED flexible displays in 2017, while Samsung, OPPO, and vivo will be this year’s top three vendors for handset equipped with AMOLED rigid displays.

Our newly published report, Global Smartphone Shipments by Display Panel by Vendor Forecast: 2014 – 2022, tracks and forecasts the shipment of global top 20 smartphone vendors by display panels (AMOLED/rigid, AMOLED/flexible, LCD/a-Si, LCD/LTPS, and LCD/IGZO) from 2014 to 2018. Global smartphone shipments by display panel forecast numbers through 2022 are included as well.

WSS clients please click here to access the full report.