Memory price increases are significantly affecting consumer electronics, with smartphones and notebooks facing the greatest challenges, while TVs experience milder but still notable impacts. The surge in memory costs is not only driving up production expenses but also compressing profit margins for vendors and system integrators globally.

Even as end-market demand shows little sign of a sustained recovery, China's LED display industry has begun a fresh round of price increases, underscoring mounting cost pressures across the supply chain.

Acer and Lenovo are optimistic about India's consumer electronics sector as the global market slows due to rising memory prices.

Large-scale capacity expansions in China have led to severe oversupply and price erosion issues in the global polarizer industry, causing Taiwanese firms to struggle as losses mount. In response, Taiwanese polarizer makers are pivoting toward high-value products as the local industry transitions toward new ventures.

Radiant, a key supplier of Apple's backlight modules, is positioning itself to benefit from both legacy and emerging display technologies. While Apple continues to push toward OLED products as a long-term strategy, LCD devices remain in demand through 2026, giving Radiant room to expand into new business lines.

The LED industry has entered its traditional off-season, with tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty in 2025 prompting end customers to adopt more conservative procurement strategies and dragging down the annual performance of Taiwanese LED makers. To escape intense price competition, companies have shifted toward niche applications such as robotics, drones, invisible-light sensing, automotive, and optical communications, with these strategies expected to support a recovery in operations and profitability in 2026.

At CES 2026, Samsung Electronics revealed the R95H, the world's first 130-inch Micro RGB TV, highlighting its integration of AI in R&D, product development, and user experience. The 130-inch Micro RGB TV uses micron-scale red, green, and blue LEDs as independent light sources and features the Micro RGB AI Engine Pro for color control. It incorporates a narrow bezel design to reduce visual distractions and integrates Vision AI Companion (VAC) technology, enabling cross-device operations such as sending information to The Freestyle's new devices or kitchen appliances.

Rising memory prices have pushed up smartphone bill of materials (BOM) costs, potentially affecting shipments for 2026. As the smartphone panel market enters its seasonal off-peak period, the effects of higher memory prices are beginning to surface. Pull-in momentum from end-device makers has slowed, leading to across-the-board declines in smartphone panel prices across different technology types.

As Micro LED moves into non-display application opportunities, PlayNitride Technologies announced a partnership with Brillink Technologies, a leader in two-dimensional array optical coupling technologies, to jointly develop a next-generation optical interconnect platform capable of meeting the needs of AI and high-performance computing (HPC). The collaboration integrates three core segments: high-efficiency Micro LED emitter arrays, ultra-high-sensitivity GeSi avalanche photodiode (APD) arrays, and two-dimensional array vertical couplers (2D-AVC). Compared with traditional active electrical cables (AEC), the platform is expected to achieve longer transmission distances, lower power consumption, and higher bandwidth density.

The e-paper market is undergoing a significant transformation, shifting from traditional black-and-white displays to color technology, driven by device replacement cycles and expanding application areas. This trend has contributed to robust performances by key industry players E Ink Holdings and Netronix in 2025, with both companies poised to achieve record results in 2026.

At CES 2026, leading global panel makers focused on microLED and OLED technologies while showcasing AI-driven smart cockpits. The event revealed a shift in automotive display roles from mere entertainment accessories to becoming the core of vehicle-to-home connectivity.