Blog from April 2023

Display Equipment

Leading Display Equipment Suppliers’ Revenues Fall for Sixth Straight Quarter

April 3, 2023

As revealed in our latest Quarterly Display Supply Chain Financial Health Report, display equipment revenues for 17 of the largest suppliers fell 9% Q/Q and 7% Y/Y to $1.4B, declining on a Y/Y basis for the sixth straight quarter as shown in the figure here. At $1.41B, it was the second worst quarter since Q2’20, when COVID disrupted equipment deliveries and installations. Display equipment spending is on the decline due to a decline in display demand resulting from the COVID bubble when significant display demand was pulled in along with a rise in supply in 2021 and 2022 as suppliers responded to the higher demand by adding more capacity. As a result, utilization plummeted, LCD TV panel prices fell below cash cost and panel manufacturers began delaying spending, which should extend through most of 2023.
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TV

LCD TV Panel Prices Continue to Climb in Q2

April 3, 2023

After a pause in the winter, LCD TV panel prices are increasing as Q1 ends and Q2 begins. The extremely low LCD fab utilization levels in Q1 have allowed TV supply chain inventories to normalize and panel purchases have started to recover. The higher panel prices will lead to improved profitability for panel makers, but the industry remains in a difficult position with prices below cash costs.
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TV

Advanced TV Market Expected to Decline in 2023; Growth to Resume in 2024

April 3, 2023

Advanced TV shipments are expected to decline in both units and revenue in 2023, but are forecast to resume growth in 2024, according to the latest update to DSCC’s Quarterly Advanced TV Shipment and Forecast Report, now available to subscribers. This report covers the worldwide premium TV market, including the most advanced TV technologies: WOLED, QD-OLED, QDEF, MicroLED and MiniLED with 4K and 8K resolution. The report looks at current and future TV shipments and revenues by technology, region, brand, resolution and size, and forecasts the growth of all these technologies. Last month, we covered the most recent historical results and this week we will cover our updated forecast.
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TV

DSCC Advanced TV Cost Report Shows Cost Impact of Low Fab Utilization

April 10, 2023

DSCC has released its latest update of the Advanced TV Display Cost Report, with updates to OLED and LCD cost profiles. This quarter’s edition includes updates to all sizes of WOLED panels and 55”+ LCD sizes including LCD with MiniLED backlights, and cost profiles for 55” and 65” QD-OLED panels from SDC.
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Display Cost

DSCC Smartphone Display Cost Report Highlights Cost of New Technologies

April 17, 2023

In the immensely competitive smartphone market, consumers and handset makers choose performance features from a vast range of display innovations and weigh the importance of these features against price. The latest update of DSCC’s Quarterly Smartphone Display Cost Report, released last week gives subscribers a detailed accounting of the cost of key features available in smartphone displays, such as higher refresh rate, resolution or improved thickness and weight. The report includes the latest updates to our smartphone cost model, including revised cost profiles of Samsung’s S23 product line, Apple’s iPhone 14 product line and the latest foldable displays from Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
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Financial

Panel Maker Q1’23 Earnings Preview

April 24, 2023

In most quarters, LG Display has been the first panel maker to announce financial results from the previous quarter. LGD is scheduled to release its results next Wednesday, April 26th, but they won’t be the first to report this quarter. Innolux jumped the gun by announcing better-than-expected results for Q1’23 on April 19th (see separate story). We will preview the results from the rest of the industry here. It is likely that the pattern set by Innolux – a decrease in revenues but slightly better operating margins – will be the trend for panel makers.
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Mobile

BOE Flagship Smartphone Panel Share Surged to a Record 27% in Q1’23

April 26, 2023

As revealed in DSCC’s new Monthly Flagship Smartphone Tracker, BOE captured a record 27% unit share of the flagship smartphone panel market in Q1’23, with flagship smartphones defined as those containing flexible or foldable OLED displays. In Q1'23, BOE had an 81% Y/Y unit growth as a result of impressive volume growth/share gains at Apple, Huawei, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and ZTE. As it continues to narrow the technological gap with Samsung Display and ramps up its new fab in Chengdu and prices to win business, its share of the flagship smartphone market continues to grow, rising from 18% in Q1’22 to 22% in Q4’22 and 27% in Q1’23. In Q1'23, flagship smartphones were up 17% Y/Y with flexible OLED smartphones up 18% Y/Y and foldable OLED smartphones up 4% Y/Y. DSCC’s Monthly Flagship Smartphone Tracker, which also provides a rolling two-month forecast for all flexible and foldable OLEDs used in smartphones, reveals that BOE is expected to hold onto its share gain in Q2’23.
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