The sales of iPhone X turned out to be less than market expectation, so Samsung has lowered the utilization rate of OLED production lines. The tight supply of OLED panels over the past two years has also been eased. According to WitsView, a division of TrendForce, Apple has initiated the trend of OLED panels, and it is estimated that the penetration rate of OLED panel in smartphones will reach 46% by 2021. Mini LED is overwhelmed by OLED’s technology maturity and competitive costs, so it might be hard for Mini LED to grow in the smartphone market in short term.
While conventional LED components are used for backlight, Micro LED and Mini LED technology have been used for self-emitting in displays of consumer electronics. Every LED will then stand for a pixel, increasing the number of LED wafers used by companies. It is estimated that wafers for applications using Micro LED and Mini LED will account for 11.4% of the total LED wafers used worldwide by 2022, according to LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. These applications will become a key driver of the market demand.
Smart lighting has been developed for years, but products and applications are not really used widely. In 2017, however, smart lighting has begun to escalate with diversification of products, continuous improvements of technology, maturing ecosystem of industry chain, and active promotion of manufacturers. According to the latest data of LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, the global smart lighting market reached a value close to US$4.6 billion in 2017 with an annual growth rate of 95%. The market size is expected to reach US$13.4 billion in 2020.
The prices of most LED package products in the Chinese market remained stable in February 2018, and some of the products saw slight price drop as suppliers tried to clear inventory, says LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.
LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, reports that some high and mid-power LED package products in China's market witnessed slight price drop in January 2018 as suppliers were trying to clear inventory at the year end.