Even before the products enjoyed what is the traditional spike in sales in the run up to the Holiday period, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs enjoyed unprecedented demand at the end of 2017 according to research from IHS Markit.
Given their intrinsic advantages in terms of colour gamut, switching speeds and low-power usage, OLED screens have long been tipped to be the flat screen standard but have to date not shown the mass manufacturability to be produced at mainstream prices.Yet the analyst found that in November 2017 worldwide OLED TV shipments more than doubled year over year, as brands responded to peak holiday demand from retailers. It added that with consumer television prices falling, global shipments of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs grew 133% year-over-year, reaching a new monthly record of 270,000 units in the month. This growth comes as falling prices placed 55-inch 4K OLED into the budget range of a greater number of high-end holiday shoppers Total OLED TV shipments from January through November 2017 surpassed 1.3 million units. Together with December estimates, overall OLED TV shipments are likely to exceed 1.4 million units shipped in 2017.
The IHS Markit TV Sets Intelligence Service-Premium research also found that LG Electronics (LGE) dominated the OLED TV market in 2016, accounting for around 92% of all units shipped, while several Chinese brands accounted for most of the remaining shipments. During the weeks surrounding Black Friday 2017, LGE dropped the price of its entry-level B7 series 55-inch and 65-inch 4K OLED TVs by $200, pricing its lowest tier 55B7 model at $1,499. LGE led overall OLED TV shipment volume in November, with a 31% month-over-month increase in shipments. Total year-over-year 55-inch OLED TV shipments rose 123% in November, while 65-inch shipments grew 157%.
“In 2017, the landscape for OLED TV brands changed as Sony, Toshiba and other major brands began selling OLED TVs,” said Ken Park, associate director, IHS Markit. “The growing number of available OLED TV choices, especially high-profile Japanese and European brands, has resulted in more competition and pricing promotion activity in the OLED TV market.”
Looking at the overall flat panel market, IHS Markit found that global liquid crystal display (LCD) TV shipments in November declined month over month by 1.6%, falling to 24.4 million units, as Black Friday demand in the United States declined in 2017 compared with the prior year.
