Organic LED Market

Market Overview

The global organic LED market size was valued at USD 58,227.12 million in 2022. It is estimated to reach USD 335,978.42 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 21.5% during the forecast period (2023–2031).

The organic light-emitting diode, referred to as OLED, is a flat light-emitting diode technology created by sandwiching thin organic films between two conductors. OLEDs are primarily made of organic (i.e., carbon-based) materials. OLED, which exceeds incandescent and fluorescent lighting in terms of lighting power efficiency, is one of the most promising display and lighting technologies. OLED technology also allows users to design flexible lighting and display panels.

OLED technology is becoming increasingly popular among end consumers because it is more power-efficient, lighter, brighter, and offers better contrast than LCDs. OLEDs improve end users' viewing experiences by providing wide viewing angles, quick response times, superb contrast ratios, and richer colors. OLEDs cost more than similar LED and LCD goods. However, once the products get greater traction in the market, the price of these goods is anticipated to decline.

Highlights

• Displaydominates theproduct type segment
• PMOLED dominates the technology segment
• Consumer electronics dominatethe end-user segment
• North America is the highest shareholder in the global market

Market Dynamics

Global Organic LED Market Drivers:

Increase in Government Initiatives towards OLED Adoption

Governments from many countries have concentrated on adopting OLED lighting to cut expenses and pollution. The acceptance of OLED lighting technology in many nations is fueled by their positive attitudes, causing the global market to expand. For instance, the German government offers grants to local governments so they can upgrade aging street lighting with modern OLED lighting. Moreover, "The Middle East Lighting Association (MELA)" is a global non-profit organization established by collaborating with Gulf Advanced Lighting, GE Lighting, Osram, Philips Lighting, and Tridonic. It is present throughout Middle Eastern nations.

Furthermore, the MELA concept aims to represent the interests of the major lighting product manufacturers in supporting lawmakers in the region in designing and implementing policies, standards, and regulations for lighting-related goods and services throughout the Middle East region. The group also promotes energy-efficient lighting practices to protect the environment, human comfort, and consumer health and safety. As a result, the global organic LED market is expanding rapidly due to all these growing government requirements and attempts to embrace OLED lighting systems.

High Demand for Cost-Effective and Energy-Saving OLED Lighting

Lighting consumes approximately 15 percent of the total energy produced in the world. Moreover, about 5% of the world's carbon emissions come from lighting. In order to lower carbon emissions, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has published some advice on energy-efficient lighting options. The demand for OLED-based lighting is predicted to rise dramatically over the next two decades due to the rapid urbanization and economic growth in Europe and the Middle East. Therefore, the demand for more LED-based lighting to achieve efficient cost and energy savings is anticipated to propel the global OLED lighting market's expansion in the upcoming years.

Global Organic LED Market Restraint:

High Cost of the Technology

OLEDs are considered costly because of the high initial capital cost compared to conventional lighting technologies. Further, the cost includes the circuitry and power supplies required. However, this is the perspective of the initial investment. The total price (considering the lifetime of OLED) would be lower than conventional technologies. OLEDs have a reduced total cost of ownership than LED and LCD sources, which includes maintenance and energy costs.

Furthermore, the high investments at the initial level restrict the initial acceptance of OLEDs. In addition, OLED is material intensive product; hence manufacturing OLED displays or lighting is expensive. Moreover, significant capital and government approval are required to set up new manufacturing plants. The technology is comparatively new and highly skill intensive, so setting up completely new manufacturing plants requires considerable capital. This is expected to hinder the expansion of the OLED market to a certain extent.

Global Organic LED Market Opportunities:

Increasing Adoption of Smart Lighting Systems

Innovations in the lighting industry, such as the launch and fast adoption of smart lighting systems, are expected to create opportunities for OLED lights and displays. Smart lighting systems have embedded intelligence, which can sense the presence of a person in the area and accordingly switch on and off the lights. In addition, OLED lamps are integrated with sensors, which control the working of the OLED. Smart lighting solutions are expected to provide massive momentum in building smart cities.

Smart lighting successfully addresses sustainable development challenges, creating ample opportunities for the OLED market. Governments have played a significant role in the smart cities market through their regulations and initiatives focused on deploying smart services as a substantial part of their infrastructure. Therefore, the emergence of smart cities and smart infrastructure globally assists the penetration of smart lighting technology, which provides lucrative opportunities for the OLED industry in the global market.

Regional Analysis

North America Dominates the Global Market

Based on region, the global organic LED market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

North America is the most significant global organic LED market shareholder and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 19.6% during the forecast period. The increase in demand for eco-friendly displays and lighting solutions is one of the major factors driving the growth of the OLED market in the North American region. By enhanced picture quality, OLED displays are widely used in televisions and smartphones for high-quality screen display. In addition, the rise in electricity consumption in this region also drives the growth of the OLED lighting market in North America. Increased application of OLEDs in commercials, automobiles, and displays would supplement the development of the OLED market in North America. North America comprises developed countries such as the U.S. and Canada. These countries have already discontinued their usage of incandescent lamps. These lamps are phasing out owing to the emergence of more energy-efficient light sources such as light-emitting diodes (LED) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). Further, regional manufacturers are developing competitive strategies for high-performance products that focus on environmental factors and meet industry standards.

Europe is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22.4% over the forecast period. Europe, with countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, is the significant market for OLED lighting solutions in this region. Rapid growth in the European region's television, mobile, and automobile industries is expected to drive the growth of the OLED market. Moreover, an increase in electricity consumption is expected to help to boost the demand for energy-efficient OLED lighting. Currently, OLEDs are used in various tablets, mobile phones, and television displays. Audi, Merck, Shai Dewan, and Philips are collaborating with the University of Cologne, where OLED panels can be used in the car's exterior for seamless lighting design. In addition, OLEDs are used for interior lighting (dashboard lighting) to increase the attractiveness of the vehicles. For instance, Audi's latest concept electric crossover car, the e-tron quattro, is equipped with OLED displays and lighting panels.

Asia-Pacific is one of the regions with the fastest-growing markets for OLED lighting solutions because of the region's burgeoning automotive sector. There is stiff competition between the companies operating in the market regarding acquiring the major market share. Market players use digital signage to gain an edge over competitors as an effective solution for advertisement and publicity. In addition, Asia-Pacific is home to the majority of OLED panels and material makers. OLED manufacturers are majorly concentrated in the Southeast Asian region owing to the availability of easy accessibility of raw materials, a cheap labor force, and efficient manufacturing technologies. For instance, South Korea's LG Display Co. Ltd. announced that the company is planning to invest in the OLED display market while aiming at spearheading the market. LG Display plans to invest USD 8.47 billion into OLED displays by 2018. This OLED display would be extensively used in smartphones, television, wearable, flexible displays, and others.

OLED technology is expected to be the pivotal factor affecting the fundamental dynamics of the lighting and display market in the LAMEA region. An increase in demand for digital signage is expected to affect the OLED market in the region. Latin America is a comparatively emerging market for OLED lights, thereby creating numerous opportunities for companies to enter the OLED market in the region. Further, allocating and distributing a limited amount of energy are critical issues any country faces. Hence, the right choice of OLED lighting solution would create ample growth opportunities for the companies to address the rise in demand in Latin American countries.

Segmental Analysis

The global organic LED market is segmented by product type, technology, and end-user.

Based on product type, the global organic LED market is divided into displays and lighting. 

The display segment is responsible for the largest market share and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21.6% over the forecast period. OLED displays improve the end user's viewing experience by providing wide viewing angles, quick response times, high contrast ratios, and vivid colors. OLEDs consume fewer processing steps and are less equipment intensive than LCDs; hence, the overall manufacturing cost of OLEDs can be reduced with technological advancements. In addition, OLED display technology has witnessed increased adoption, surpassing the performance of LCD and Plasma displays. OLED is an entirely different emissive image display technology that does not need a backlight. Additionally, additional elements like contrast ratio, response time for dark levels, and viewing angles fuel the expansion of the worldwide OLED display industry.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research, lighting applications account for 15% of the world's power consumption and 5% of global CO2 emission. By 2030, the worldwide transition toward efficient lighting solutions in commercial, industrial, and residential sectors would help reduce electricity demand for lighting applications by approximately 32%. In addition, emerging and developed countries worldwide are switching to efficient lighting solutions encompassing LED and OLED. The rise in the cost of electricity, changes in climate concerns, and the constant need to reduce overall electric consumption are some of the prime factors driving the global lighting market toward adopting energy-efficient OLED light sources.

Based on technology, the global organic LED market is segmented into PMOLED, AMOLED, transparent OLED, top-emitting OLED, foldable OLED, and white OLED. 

The PMOLED segment owns the highest market share and is estimated to rise at a CAGR of 18.7% over the forecast period. Passive-matrix OLEDs (PMOLED) have cathode strips, organic layers, and anode strips. PMOLED control more power than other OLEDs. This is because PMOLED needs more power for external circuitry. PMOLEDs are more efficient for text and icons and best suited for small screens like smartphones. PMOLED also offers good visibility and a wide viewing angle from a significant distance. The rise in the application of PMOLED displays in smartwatches, music players, automobile, digital healthcare devices, and others majorly drive the growth of the PMOLED segment.

Foldable OLEDs have substrates made up of very flexible metallic foils or plastics. Foldable OLEDs are very lightweight and durable and are used in devices such as cell phones and PDAs. An integrated computer processor, cell phone, GPS receiver, and foldable OLED display can be affixed to fabrics to make smart apparel. For instance, in February 2019, Huawei launched its first foldable smartphone, the Mate X, with 8 inches and 2200x2480 resolution foldable AMOLED display that folds outwards.

Based on end-user, the global organic LED market is segmented into consumer electronics, automotive, retail, industrial, commercial, aerospace and defense, healthcare, and others. 

Consumer electronics is the highest contributor to the market and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% during the forecast period. OLED technology in consumer electronics involves its usage in smartphones, televisions, HUD displays, wearable devices, and other components. OLED televisions and monitors are the major application areas of OLED technology. OLED television and monitors are thinner, brighter, energy efficient, and offer better contrast than LCD or Plasma screens. In addition, OLED technology is used in top-end smartphones. Samsung's Galaxy J2, an entry-level phone, uses a 4.7-inch qHD (960x540) Super AMOLED display. Further, Motorola, Huawei, Gionee, BLU, OPPO, Microsoft, and Vivo are other companies that offer OLED displays in their smartphones.

The automotive industry is one of the prominent end-user industries for OLED technology. Most OLED displays and lighting used in the automotive sector are for dashboard displays, digital rear-view and internal mirrors, interior illumination, and another external lighting. In addition, several different car models have PMOLED dashboard displays in contemporary scenes. The first commercial vehicle to feature the new lighting technology was the 2016 Audi TT RS, which comes with optional OLED taillights. Moreover, Audi began utilizing OLED screens and taillights in all its vehicles in 2017.

Recent Developments

• February 2023- Samsung Electronics released a new organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television on the Korean market for the first time in a decade, challenging LG Electronics to competition.

• February 2023- LG Electronics America revealed the pricing and availability of its highly awaited OLED televisions for 2023, constituting the most advanced LG OLED television lineup.