MicroLED Display Shipments Expected To Still Be Just 0.9% Of Overall Display Market By 2031: Omdia

January 15, 2025 by Dave Haynes

New research from Omdia projects that shipments of microLED displays will grow to 34.6 million units by 2031, but that number will still represent just 0.9% of the total display market … and a lot of that will be for tiny footprint displays like the lenses of smart glasses.

Omdia suggests in a summary from its paywalled Omdia’s ‘Micro LED Display Market Tracker – 4Q 2024 that the technology will only be competitive in select applications from now to 2031 – presumably because of igh costs and the status of the technology, which is still somewhat in an R&D phase as manufacturers work out how to make the displays at scale and with utterly minimal production flaws.

MicroLED, by the way, has a big section in the Sixteen:Nine Future Displays report that will be up and available for download this morning.

Omdia says the modest growth for microLED owes in part to reports about a year ago now that Apple postponed its microLED display project for its watch, influencing a more general slowdown in the development of associated components and equipment by suppliers. “As a result, Omdia has significantly revised its market forecast compared to projections made earlier in 2024.”

Despite some delays, many industry players continue to aggressively develop micro LED display technology. Omdia forecasts that shipments in the micro LED display market will reach 1.7 million by 2027, driven primarily by light-emitting diode on-silicon backplane (LEDoS) in ultra small sized display device such as extended reality (XR) devices, particularly smart-glasses designed for outdoor. By 2031, XR devices are expected to account for 24.4% of the micro LED display market.

“Smart-glasses require light-weight designs, low-power consumption and high readability under sunlight,” says Jerry Kang, Senior Research Manager at Omdia. “A few LED suppliers have already achieved diagonal sizes as small as 0.15-inch, making them more suitable for lightweight on smart-glasses compared to other display technologies.”

In 2024, numerous display manufacturers unveiled new microLED display prototypes, that mainly targeted automotive, public displays, and virtual studios. This trend suggests that suppliers are anticipating  greater adoption of microLED displays in niche applications.

“Due to the low -cost competitiveness, many display suppliers are focusing on penetrating product segments where OLED or LCD struggle to meet customer demands for specific display sizes and performance,” says Kang. “Simultaneously, several component and equipment suppliers are proactively introducing advanced technologies to enhance the manufacturing of microLED displays.”