SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Display is vying fiercely with LG Display for the No. 1 spot in the display market. The competition is garnering a sharp interest since it is a proxy war between Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. Samsung Display's key customer is Samsung Electronics, while LG Display's most important customer is Apple.
Samsung Display announced on April 26 that it posted sales of 7.1 trillion won for the first quarter of this year, 300 billion won higher than LG Display's 6.8 trillion won. Samsung Display, accordingly, regained its lead after losing it to LG Display in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Samsung Display regained the lead thanks to a rise in sales of Samsung smartphones. Samsung Electronics sold 69.4 million smartphones in the first quarter of this year, 6 million higher than a quarter ago. In contrast, Apple, a key customer of LG Display, suffered a decline of more than 10 million units to 37.4 million in the first quarter.
