In the wave of vigorous expansion of the smartphone market, China's panel manufacturing giant BOE will surpass Samsung display in the fourth quarter of 2023 and lead the foldable panel market.

According to market research company DSCC data show that in the second half of this year, the original champion Samsung Electronics in the foldable mobile phone market share will fall from 86% in the same period last year to 72%, a decline of 14 percentage points. Huawei and Honor ranked second and third with 9% and 8% of the market, respectively.

DSCC pointed out that Samsung Electronics' market share in the foldable phone market will fall to around 42% in the fourth quarter of 2023, due to the weakened impact of the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5, as well as competition from Chinese companies launching new foldable phone models.

At the same time, the market share of Huawei and Honor is expected to climb rapidly, and the market share is expected to reach 21% and 19% in the fourth quarter, respectively, and this market change will affect foldable panel manufacturers. As Samsung displays the exclusive supply of OLED panels for Samsung Electronics foldable phones, its market share is expected to fall to 74% in the second half of 2023, down 17% from 91% in the same period last year. By contrast, boe, which had a market share of only 4% in the second half of last year, surged to 18% in the same period this year.

The DSCC also pointed out that BOE will expand its supply to Chinese smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor, OPPO, etc., in the fourth quarter, and its market share will exceed that of Samsung. Samsung's market share is expected to fall to about 35%, while BOE's market share will rise to about 40%.

In addition, BOE recently issued the "Announcement on Investment in the Construction of BOE 8.6gen AMOLED production line Project", which intends to invest 63 billion yuan in the construction of the 8.6gen AMOLED production line with a capacity of 32,000 pieces/month in the high-tech West District of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. This marks BOE's ambition for the high-generation AMOLED semiconductor display market, which is expected to occupy a significant position in the global market.

DSCC forecasts that by 2026, OLED panel shipments in the high-end IT market will reach 44 million units, accounting for 75% of the market share, with a compound growth rate of 51%. In addition, OLED panel revenue in the tablet market will exceed $2 billion, with CAGRs of about 49% and 46%. Boe's large-scale production line investment will provide considerable new orders for panel upstream equipment companies, and also open up a broader market space for domestic OLED material companies. Because the mid-size IT OLED panel is different from the mobile phone OLED panel, its design and packaging changes will bring higher growth rate to the domestic material market.