Apple Watch propels LG to over 90% of the smartwatch display market

According to market research firm DisplaySearch, LG Display—the sole company currently making displays for the Apple Watch—brought in over $186 million during the first quarter of 2015, a number more than 90% of the overall market estimated to be worth a total of $240 million (via Business Korea). Other players in the market have tiny shares in comparison, with Samsung Display in second place with a 3.1% share, followed by Japan Display at 2.1%…

When it comes to shipment volume, LG held 66.8% of the total display shipments with 8 million units in the first quarter of 2015. This number is almost 8 times as many as the 1.1 million units that the company shipped in Q4 2014, likely thanks to the shipment of Apple Watch screens—and also significantly higher than the total shipments of other companies providing displays. Japan Display shipped 1.48 million units, Futaba shipped 1.12 million units, and Sharp pushed 900,000 units.

LG Display’s strength can be attributed to several factors, but the company’s current place as the main provider of Apple Watch displays is definitely its biggest advantage. The company has also had much success developing various low-power OLED displays for smartwatches as well, being the first company to create circular OLED displays as seen on the LG G Watch R and the LG Watch Urbane—two of the hottest-selling Android Wear smartwatches on the market.

The second-place company in terms of overall market share, Samsung Display, will reportedly begin supplying displays for the Apple Watch come the launch of the next-generation device, according to reports.