Katarzyna Petru
What has been talked about for years is finally becoming a reality. According to the latest data from Omdia, starting in 2026, OLED will begin to realistically push LCD out of the tablet market — just as it previously happened in the world of smartphones.
More and more panels, fewer and fewer “regular” tablets
Omdia predicts that in 2025, global shipments of tablet panels will reach 297.4 million units — an 8% increase compared to 2024. The following year, the number will rise to 301.5 million. However, there’s a catch: nearly half of these screens will go to devices that… are not classic tablets.
Despite the increase in volume, one thing remains unchanged — the dominance of LCD screens. And these, in most cases, cannot display HDR or wider color gamuts (DCI-P3 or Rec.2020). The result? Video quality on tablets has been stagnant for years, and it is indeed LCD that blocks it.
OLED Enters the Game
Currently, OLED is mainly used in iPad Pro models and selected Samsung tablets. But this is just the beginning. According to Omdia, Apple will start transitioning cheaper iPad models from LCD to OLED between 2026 and 2027. Huawei is also planning to make a stronger entry into OLED as early as next year.
As Linda Lin, a senior analyst at Omdia, emphasizes:
“In 2026, OLED panel shipments for tablets will increase by as much as 39% year-on-year to 15 million units, while LCD will maintain a similar level as in 2025. In other words: all market growth will be driven by OLED.”
This is exactly the same moment we have already seen in smartphones — starting in 2024, most new phones sold globally will have OLED screens instead of LCD.
New factories will change the market
The revolution is also driven by infrastructure. Both China and South Korea are building new OLED production lines of class 8.6G.
The project involves:
TCL CSOT
BOE
Visionox
Samsung Display
These factories are focused on mass production of OLED panels not only for tablets but also for smartphones, laptops, and monitors.
And since a new generation of production capacity is emerging, OLED panel prices have a natural chance to fall — which paves the way for greater adoption in cheaper devices.
What’s next?
In the coming years, OLED will intensively enter laptops and PC monitors as well. If manufacturers maintain a pace similar to that of the smartphone market, an LCD tablet may soon become what an LCD phone is today — a relic.
2026 is the beginning of the end for LCD tablets. And this time nothing will stop that process.
