The worldwide market for mobile phone displays is expected to overtake that of TV screens for the first time ever this year, brought on by the change in consumer demand, industry trackers said on Sunday.

According to financial services company IHS Markit, growth of mobile panels averaged 17 per cent annually in the past seven years, effectively bridging the gap with TV screens that have traditionally led the market.

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While mobile phone-related displays have surged forward, sales of TV screens contracted roughly 8 per cent per year during that same 2010-2016 period, Yonhap reported.

The latest predictions showed sales of mobile phone displays will hit $46.56 billion compared to $41.25 billion for TV screens that include both light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

This is in contrast to TV screen sales that were tallied at $55.38 billion in 2010, four-times larger than $12.9 billion for mobile phones.

The rise in mobile phone displays is directly linked to the emergence of smartphones and the advances being made in ultra-high definition panels that have appeared on mobile devices since then.

Apple’s iconic iPhone was first launched in 2007, with Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy S, based on the Android platform following suit in 2010. The two companies continue to dominate the global smartphone market.

Market researcher Strategy Analytics (SA) said mobile phone displays are on a solid growth trajectory with shipments to hit 3.24 billion units this year and rise to 4.62 billion five years later.

It said such a growth will allow mobile phone displays to further get ahead of TV screens.

SA further noted that the market for mobile displays is being fuelled by cutting edge, premium OLEDs and flexible panels that are starting to be showcased.

In particular, growth of the flexible screen market that stood at just $3.13 billion last year is expected to become a $20-billion market by 2020.

With the growth of mobile display demand, industry watchers said the clear beneficiary will likely be Samsung Display that is already the dominant player in this field.