LG Display has reported its highest quarterly profit in more than three years, as the Korean tech giant saw increased demand of its OLED panels for HDTVs and smartphones.

The Apple supplier posted an operating profit of 685 billion won ($622 million) in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of 422 billion won in the same period last year.

Both profit and sales were higher than the market consensus of 377.3 billion won and 7.25 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax.

The operating profit was the company’s highest quarterly profit since the second quarter of 2017.  

“As the global work-from-home situation continued in the fourth quarter, demand for TV and IT products remained strong,” LG Display said in a statement. 

OLED panel demand rose markedly for Apple’s new iPhone 12. According to Counterpoint data, iPhone shipments in the fourth quarter were likely up more than 20 percent year over year.

“The first half of the year is usually a seasonal down cycle, but this year is different. It will continue to swing to profit, as iPhone 12 sales are expected to increase panel shipments by one and a half to two times the amount a year earlier,” Kim Kwang-jin, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, told Reuters.

As the world’s largest OLED TV panel maker, the company also attributed its improved performance to the elevated demand for its popular display products amid the rising trend of remote working and distance learning due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

By product, panels for IT products represented 37 percent of its revenue in the fourth quarter, while TV panels accounted for 29 percent. Mobile displays and other screen products made up 34 percent of overall sales.  

In the past quarter, OLED TV panel shipments increased 50 percent year over year to 1.6 million units. LG Display announced in a conference call that it aims to manufacture between seven and eight million units of OLED TV panels this coming year.  

“We achieved our fourth quarter results backed by responding quickly to the contactless market situation as well as improving revenues in OLED,” Suh Dong-hee, the CFO and senior vice president of LG Display, said in a statement.  

LG also announced that it has won a prestigious TV technology and engineering award in the United States for its high-end OLED HDTVs. The tech firm confirmed that it has been named one of the recipients at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards organized by the U.S. National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which honors those who have contributed to technical advancements in the industry.  

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.  

Image: Reuters