Market research firm TrendForce has said that the penetration rate of OLED displays in notebooks has reached 3% in 2024, driven mainly by large-scale procurement from Chinese laptop brands.
The firm forecasts a moderate growth in the use of OLED displays among notebooks in 2025, but Apple’s expected use of it within its upcoming MacBook lineup will provide a significant boost to its adoption.
Apple’s use of OLED panels is expected to encourage the activation of high-generation OLED production lines at panel makers, pushing the OLED notebook penetration rate beyond 5% by 2027.tion production lines.
TrendForce notes that panel makers are adopting tandem (dual-layer) OLED structures, which improve durability and brightness, to bolster the lifespan of OLED panels.
However, the complexity of this architecture, along with the need to improve initial yield rates, is driving up production costs. These factors could in turn delay the launch of Apple’s OLED MacBook.
Panel giants like Samsung Display and BOE are building G8.6 production lines to meet growing demand.
BOE has adopted low temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) technology for OLED backplanes, which reportedly offer superior display performance but comes with higher production costs.
Samsung Display is expected to launch OLED products from its G8.6 line in the second half of 2026, making it one the first to market in-house OLED products.
It is estimated that a newly established G8.6 high-generation production line will require 1.5 to 2 years to achieve cost parity with the existing G6 production line.
The initial mass production of high-generation OLED panels will be constrained by yield improvement needs and continued pressure from material costs.
Meanwhile, Visionox plans to mass-produce panels on its high-generation line in 2028, utilizing its next-generation ViP display technology.
JDI has also entered the race by forming the eLEAP strategic alliance with Innolux and its subsidiary CarUX to promote 32-inch integrated in-car OLED displays.
However, LG Display’s entry into large-scale production is reported to still be under evaluation as it remains cautious about its high-generation production line.
Recently, TCL announced that it has officially commenced mass production of inkjet-printed OLED panels.
This technology would directly challenge the likes of LG Display and Samsung Display as TCL says that the inkjet-printed OLEDs will have a wide range of applications including notebooks, monitors, and TVs.
Today, OLED panels are mostly produced in vacuum chambers through thermal evaporation (VTE), using a type of spray-painter and a metal mask. However, inkjet-printing uses a precise inkjet printer to apply the OLED material where needed, thereby reducing waste material and potentially leading to lower production costs when implemented at scale.
