Worldwide revenues for OLED technology jumped 24 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2020 to $6.7 billion, even as they slid 18 percent quarter over quarter, due to the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the supply chain. At the same time, OLED gained a slightly larger share of both the TV and smartphone markets.

That's according to the Q2’20 Quarterly OLED Shipment Report, released Wednesday by Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the outfit of analyst Ross Young.

As of last quarter, 81.1 percent of smartphones have OLED panels, compared to 80.4 percent in the last quarter of 2019, while 9.4 percent of the TV market uses OLED, compared to 9.2 percent in the previous quarter.

As for manufacturers, Samsung Display and BOE both gained share in the first quarter, while LG Display lost some. Samsung Display now accounts for 71.5 percent of the OLED sector's revenue, with LG Display holding 16.5 percent and BOE rising to 6 percent.

The research also found that Samsung purchased the most OLED panels in the quarter, spending $2.8 billion for a 41 percent share, while Apple spent $1.3 billion for a 20 percent share.

On smartphones, DSCC found that OLED smartphone shipments rose 9 percent year over year, while they fell 20 percent quarter over quarter. Flexible OLED smartphone units jumped to nearly half of all sold, jumped from 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of this year. The flexible category now comprises 75 percent of OLED TV revenue.

Young is the same analyst who, last week, released a widely reported prediction of Apple's iPhone release plan this year. Young predicted that Apple will use a combination of Samsung, LG Display, and BOE for the panels on this year's models, with the latter two companies, mostly relied upon for the "iPhone 12 Max."

As for its forecast for the rest of the year, DSCC "expects OLED revenues to rise 18% in 2020 to $33B with smartphones maintaining an 81% share on 18% revenue growth to $26.6B. OLED smartphone shipments will rise 6% in 2020 with flexible displays growing their share from 35% in 2019 to 47% in 2020.

"Flexible displays will lose share to rigid in Q2’20 on traditional product launch seasonality, as they did in 2018 and 2019, and regain share in Q3’20 and Q4’20. OLED TVs will lose ground on a revenue basis in 2020, falling from a 9.0% share in 2019 to an 8.7% share in 2020 despite 19% unit growth to 4.0M units and 14% revenue growth as challenges in the TV market from COVID-19 and the delayed ramp cause it to grow slower than other applications."

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.