Consumer preference for flagship devices gives advantage for LG Display

The growing consumer preference for flagship devices is giving LG Display a relative edge, as its focus on OLED displays across smartphones and other consumer electronics has left the company well positioned to benefit from the trend. According to industry officials, Thursday, the display industry is facing mounting cost pressure as surging memory prices are forcing device makers to keep their bill of materials (BOM) costs under control by demanding price concessions from other component suppliers. Market tracker TrendForce said in a recent report that memory prices for smartphones surged by up to 200 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, raising memory’s share of total smartphone BOM costs to 30 to 40 percent from the previous 10 to 15 percent. While rising memory costs have driven up the prices of a wide range of consumer electronics and are set to put pressure on smartphones as well, demand for premium products has remained relatively resilient. According to Omdia, Samsung Electronics and Apple ranked first and second, respectively, in global smartphone shipments in the first q