Samsung may supply bezel-less displays to other smartphone OEMs

Samsung’s Infinity Display has been one of the major selling points for the flagship Galaxy smartphones in the last year. Infinity Display is a marketing term used by Samsung to denote what are commonly called “bezel-less” displays. Made by the Samsung Display division, these panels have given Samsung an enviable edge in premium smartphone design.

So far, the Infinity Displays (also referred to as full-screen displays, etc.) have been limited to the flagship Galaxy smartphones. Only at the beginning of this year did Samsung’s bezel-less screens make it to the company’s premium mid-range phones – the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018), albeit not the curved kind seen on the Galaxy S8.

Efforts to retain dominance and improve profitability

According to a report in The Investor, Samsung Display will be bringing its full-screen displays to mid-range smartphones this year. Unlike the curved full-screen displays found in the flagship Galaxy smartphones, Samsung Display will supply flat OLED panels like we've seen on the new A8 handsets for mid-range devices. That's because they're cheaper to make than their curved counterparts and mid-range devices already have tight margins as it is.

This is reportedly being done as part of Samsung Display’s efforts to retain dominance and improve profitability. Currently, Samsung Display dominates the mobile OLED market with a market share of more than 95%.

As part of the efforts, Samsung is also planning to diversify its client base for OLED smartphone displays. With Chinese display manufacturers expected to challenge Samsung in the OLED market down the line, it would make sense for the company to cater to more companies who want to make the switch to bezel-less OLED panels for their mid-range smartphones.

Apart from the full-screen mobile displays, Samsung will be focusing on large-sized premium TV displays to improve its bottom line. The report also states that Samsung is beefing up its marketing efforts in the curved-screen monitor space.

Samsung Display has been staring at an uncertain quarter with the rumored cutdown in iPhone X production. Being the sole supplier of the full-screen OLED displays to the iPhone X, it was expected to make billions of dollars in revenue. Although Samsung has downplayed the revenue impact of the weak iPhone X demand, it may see a dip in revenue given the scale and the price at which it supplies to Apple if it's unable to find new buyers for premium OLED panels.

Whether Samsung Display’s efforts to retain the momentum in growth-rate by diversifying client base and offering full-screen displays for mid-range models turns out to be successful remains to be seen.