High-end flat panel market is growing rapidly

DSCC recently released the latest quarterly high-end IT panel (Mini LED and AMOLED) shipments and technology reports. In the report, DSCC found that Apple’s 12.9”iPad Pro shipments have grown significantly recently and dominated the high-end tablet market. In the most recent quarter, panel shipments to Apple were around 1.9M units, a 90% quarter-on-quarter growth rate. Driven by the substantial shipments, the entire high-end IT panel shipments were pushed up to 2.7M pieces, an increase of 35% month-on-month and a year-on-year increase of 153%.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple has occupied 74% of the high-end Tablet market share with a single product.In 2021 as a whole, the high-end tablet market will ship about 6.7M pieces, with a growth rate of 99%. Among them, the screen shipments to Apple are about 2.8M pieces, accounting for 58%. During the same period, the single-panel shipments accounted for less than 9%. After Apple are Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei. Among them, Samsung's shipments accounted for 19%.

DSCC expects shipments of high-end flat panel panels to be approximately 8.1M in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 22%. With Mini LED, the panel shipments of iPad Pro account for about 66%. During the same period, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ is expected to rank second in panel shipments with a 17% share.

DSCC expects Apple to release a 27" display based on Mini LED technology in June this year. The display is expected to be based on the Oxide backplane and have a 5K resolution. The refresh rate is up to 120Hz.To meet its growing demand for Mini LEDs, DSCC expects Apple to introduce a second Mini LED supplier in Q2 this year. The existing supplier Ennostar will also increase its production capacity from 4”1.2 M/m to 1.5 M/m in June this year.

Luxshare is expected to enter the Apple Mini LED supply chain in March this year. DSCC expects that the 12.9”OLED panel that Apple will release in the future will adopt a laminated structure. To meet Apple’s needs, LGD will purchase an additional laminated FMM VTE device from Tokki in the AP4/E6 Phase 4 plant. The backplane technology of AP4/E6 is expected to be LTPO. Since its target product is an OLED iPad, it is not equipped with Yocta technology. DSCC expects the line to start mass production in H2'23. 

At the same time, SDC expects to deploy stacked VTE equipment in A4 and mass production in Q3'23.