Samsung Display's QD-OLED monitor panels surpass 5 mil. cumulative shipments

A promotional image celebrating Samsung Display's 5 million cumulative shipments of QD-OLED panels / Courtesy of Samsung Display

Samsung Display said Monday its QD-OLED panels for monitors surpassed 5 million cumulative units shipped in March, roughly four years after the technology entered mass production.

The company said it achieved the first 1 million units shipped as of May 2024, making the subsequent 4 million units the fastest ramp up in the product line's history. Samsung Display said it recorded average annual growth of more than 320 percent from 2021 through 2025 in the self-emissive monitor display segment.

QD-OLED, or Quantum Dot Organic Light-Emitting Diode, integrates nanometer-scale semiconductor particles known as quantum dots directly into the display panel. Unlike conventional large-area OLED displays that rely on separate color filters, QD-OLED converts blue OLED light into red and green wavelengths through a quantum dot emissive layer.

The technology delivers high color accuracy, wide color volume and broad viewing angles, along with faster pixel response times compared to liquid crystal displays at equivalent refresh rates.

According to market research firm Omdia, the share of self-emissive panels by revenue in the premium monitor segment priced above $500 is forecast to rise from 22 percent in 2024 to 41 percent in 2026.

Samsung Display said it currently supplies QD-OLED panels to 20 global monitor manufacturers, including Acer, AOC/Philips, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Samsung Electronics, with more than 150 QD-OLED monitor models available across the market.

The Omdia data cited by the company placed Samsung Display's share of the self-emissive monitor display market at 75 percent by shipment volume in 2025.

The company has begun mass supply of a 34-inch, 360Hz QD-OLED panel featuring a V (Vertical)-Stripe pixel structure, which aligns subpixels vertically to improve text readability.

Samsung Display said the new pixel layout is suited to users engaged in document editing and other text-intensive tasks, in addition to gaming applications.

Samsung Display also announced it has applied a new low-reflection, high-durability surface film called QuantumBlack across its 2026 QD-OLED monitor lineup.

The company said the film reduces light reflection by 20 percent compared to previous surface treatments, while raising panel surface hardness to 3H. The improved black performance is intended to sharpen contrast between objects and backgrounds in gaming, the company said.

"The rapid growth and dominant market share of QD-OLED stem from its unrivaled image quality, product competitiveness and stable production capacity," said Son Dong-il, executive vice president and head of the Large Display Business Division at Samsung Display.

"We will continue to introduce differentiated technologies and products tailored to our customers and the market, and lead the technological transformation of the monitor industry."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.