LG Display is hoping to sell more than 1 million OLED TV panels to Samsung Electronics this year, more than twice the original number it estimated it would ship to its rival. 

Last year, LG Display signed a five-year agreement with Samsung Electronics to supply it with WRGB OLED panels, enabling its rival to shift its flagship TV offerings away from its popular Neo QLED branding. 

The collaboration is helping the Korean companies to fend off increased competition from Chinese TV panel makers and TV suppliers, with the likes of BOE and TCL CSOT dominating the LCD panel industry, and brands such as TCL and Hisense becoming significant players in the overall TV market. 

A report from the South Korean news site Chosun reveals that LG Display has recently ramped up its OLED panel supply to Samsung, and now expects to ship between 800,000 and 1 million panels to the company this year. 

Chosun said LG Display shipped 270,000 OLED panels in February, with approximately 100,000 going to Samsung. That suggests Samsung is likely to emerge as the major rival to LG Electronics in the OLED TV segment. It’s not clear how many of the approximately 170,000 other OLED panels shipped by LG Display went to LG Electronics, but it’s highly unlikely to be all of them, as the panel maker suppliers dozens of other TV brands, such as Sony, Philips and Hisense. 

LG Display began shipping OLED panels to Samsung’s video display business unit, which runs its TV business, in February of last year and the shipments have continually ramped up ever since. 

Chosun says the companies both see positives in the deal, even if it means Samsung Electronics threatens LG Electronics’ status as the number one OLED TV supplier. Samsung gets to expand its share of the premium TV segment, while LG Display can grow its revenue significantly. 

In 2023, Samsung Electronics offered OLED TVs in four sizes – 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inches – with the biggest models exclusively using LG’s WRGB OLED panels, and the others using QD-OLED displays supplied by Samsung Display. 

This year, Samsung is going to expand its lineup with the addition of its first 42- and 48-inch OLED TVs. For consumers, it’s a confusing situation if they’re worried about the exact type of OLED panel used, as Samsung Electronics doesn’t specify the exact panel technology used in its individual models, creating what many have termed a “panel lottery”. 

It was previously reported by the research firm DSCC that Samsung will buy at least five million OLED panels from LG Display other a five-year period, but that figure could rise, if the latest reports are to be believed. 

Another research firm, Omdia, suggests that Samsung Display will increase its QD-OLED TV shipments by 33.6% to 1.4 million units this year, while LG Display expects to ramp up WRGB OLED production by 42.1% to 6 million units, compared to a year ago. “Out of the 6 million units produced by LG Display, 3.5 to 4 million units will go to LG Electronics, and up to 1 million units will be supplied to Samsung Electronics,” Omdia analysts said.

Samsung hopes to grab a 22% overall market share in the OLED TV segment this year through its strategy of mixing WRGB OLED and QD-OLED, but it may ultimately become entirely dependent on LG Display, as recent reports suggest Samsung Display may be de-prioritizing QD-OLED to focus on MicroLED development. 

If that happens, LG Display will benefit even more, at a time when it has all but exited the LCD display making business to focus on higher-end products.