Samsung’s LCD smartphone shipments overtook OLED market last year

Samsung last year shipped more smartphones with LCD screens than OLED. According to the Korean media TheElec, Samsung’s OLED smartphone shipments reached 135.1 million units by 2021. The LCD smartphone slightly surpassed the 135.8 million unit smartphone.

Compared to 2020, LCD smartphone shipments increased by 41 percent and OLED smartphone shipments decreased by 15 percent. This indicates that Samsung is working on its low-cost smartphone strategy again, which has been trying to regain the ground it lost to its Chinese rivals over the years.

Earlier in 2021, the Korean company was increasingly using OLED displays in its budget and mid-range smartphones and was trying to make its offerings more attractive. But as the market became more competitive, Samsung had to take into account the price difference between the two types of smartphone displays.

Samsung is now using more LCD screens in its affordable smartphones. Two-thirds (68.7 percent) of its smartphones sold under the KRW 500,000 (approximately $ 400) last year had LCD screens. The Korean company’s sales revenue from LCD smartphones in this price range is expected to exceed $20 billion by 2021.

Samsung’s entry-level LCD smartphones (under $150) saw a 12.4 percent increase in ASP in 2021, despite a global decline in the average selling price (ASP) of low-cost smartphones. This trend is likely to continue in 2022 and beyond Samsung 2022 and above will continue this trend of equipping low-cost smartphones with LCD screens.

It has released five budget smartphones so far this year – the Galaxy A13, Galaxy A23, Galaxy F23, Galaxy M23, and Galaxy M33 – and all have LCD screens. Research firm Counterpoint Research has already forecast just two percent growth in OLED smartphones worldwide this year

Samsung has lined up several mid-range smartphones over the next few months, including the Galaxy A33, Galaxy A53 and Galaxy A73. It is expected that all these phones will have OLED displays. Time will tell if the Korean brand has any other plans.