OLED Lighting to Overtake LED in household and commercial lighting in 2016

The commercialization of OLED lighting continues to develop faster, with more and more companies announcing their hope to enter this market. Although traditional lighting companies are active, seeking to keep their position with regards to OLED lighting, there are many new entrants that want to challenge these holders and traditional change the dynamics of the industry. Companies are beginning to scale-up the manufacturing of OLED lighting panels, at the same time product performance is rapidly improving both will have an impact on the pricing, capacity, costs and volumes over the next 10 years.

OLED lighting is estimated to become a strong competitor to LED lights by 2016 one year earlier than previously thought. OLED lighting may have had a gentle start but it is now firmly gaining market attention as an increasing number of OLED panels and lights reach the market – with the efficacy and lifetimes of current OLED panels at a performance level to last more than ten years under normal operating conditions they are rapidly becoming an alternative to LED lighting for home applications.

The potential of the OLED market in the short-term may be debated but what our analysis shows is that during the 2020 – 2023 period OLED lighting is set to become a major alternative to LED lights in terms of performance, price and lifetimes in commercial and industrial lighting.

By 2020 OLED panels will be priced at EUR 200 per square meter and operate at a brightness of 5,000 cd per square meter and we could see OLED panels priced at less than 14/klm. By 2023 worldwide OLED panel production may exceed 500 million 100mm x 100mm panel equivalents.

The recent 66 percent price drop by LG Chem and brighter panels offered by Philips are clear signs that OLED lighting is here for the long-term as the two leading manufacturers seek to keep key market share in this rapidly growing market. Konica Minolta will launch the worlds first roll-to-roll OLED panel manufacturing line in the latter part of 2014, and this will see increases in capacity and increases in choice for LED lights manufacturers and end-users. Increased competition among OLED panel manufacturers will see greater product innovation and further price falls.

"Now in its 3rd year this report provides a consistent review and analysis of how the market is changing annually, how big the market will grow, how many panels will be produced, how many machines will be required to meet the forecasted revenues", said Craig Cruickshank, lead analyst with cintelliq limited, "this report is becoming an importan reference for those wishing to understand the current and future evolution of the OLED lighting industry.”