Sony got all the attention in Q4?07 with the release of its 11" XEL-1 TV, but Samsung SDI drove the market, pushing shipments to 20.2M, which was up 30% Q/Q but down 9% Y/Y, DisplaySearch says. For the year, total revenues grew 6% to US$493.9M and total shipments grew 8% to 74.7M, according to the DisplaySearch Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report. The report findings also show that the shipment mix is changing, as AMOLEDs had a 9.7% share of total revenues in Q3?07, which jumped to 41% in Q4?07.

"By Q1?08, DisplaySearch forecasts AMOLEDs will represent 55.6% of total revenues as LG Display enters the AMOLED market and Chi Mei EL, Samsung SDI and Sony continue to ramp up," noted Barry Young, Senior Advisor, DisplaySearch.

Key findings in the report include:

Samsung SDI was #1 in total revenue with US$79.4M, more than double the #2 supplier RiTdisplay at US$30.3M.

RiTdisplay retained its lead in shipments at 6.6M units with Samsung SDI following at 4.9M units.

Pioneer was #3 in units and #3 in shipments.

Sony shipped 2K 11" displays for use in the XEL-1 in December and is expected to ship 6K panels in Q1?08.

Chi Mei EL increased its production of AMOLED panels, shipping 60K units in Q4?07 up from 16K in Q3?07.

LG Display, formerly LG. Philips LCD, took over LGE?s PMOLED fab and is expected to ship ~150K AMOLED in Q1?08 panels for use in the recently announced LG-SH150A.

"AMOLEDs are beginning to hit their stride in the small/medium market with Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson all releasing products in Q4?07. We expect to see multiple product introductions in the next two quarters, and the panel size will jump to 2.6" and larger compared to previously announced 2.2-2.4" models,? Young added.

Due to a strong fourth quarter, total OLED 2007 revenues reached US$493.9M, a new record, led by Samsung SDI, RiTdisplay and Pioneer. Showing strong results in microdisplays, eMagin slipped into the top five for the first time.

Sub-displays and MP3 player displays continue to account for ~75% of OLED shipments at 9.9M and 5.3M, respectively. Main displays, due to the growth in AMOLEDs, are beginning to catch up and now have a 11.5% share, up from only 4.5% last quarter.

AMOLEDs are forecast to reach 3.1M units in Q1?08, up from 1.7M in Q4?07, driving total revenues up to US$ 204.1M, which will set a new record for the industry.

DisplaySearch?s Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report is available at http://www.displaysearch.com.