Shipments of mobile phone displays rose 43 percent in the first quarter of 2006 to 274.6 million main displays and 58.6 million sub displays, according to market research firm DisplaySearch.

 DisplaySearch said in a recent report that mobile phone display Samsung SDI was the leading supplier of 45.9 million units, or 16.7 percent of the market. Trailing Samsung SDI were Sanyo Epson, Philips, Sharp, and Wintek.

The firm noted that Samsung and Philips were strong in color super-twisted-nematic (STN) display sales, while Sanyo, Sharp, and Wintek were strong in active-matrix LCDs.

The largest mobile phone display user in the first quarter was Nokia, with 32.9 percent, followed by Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, and BenQ.

“The mobile phone display market continues to grow, paced by the higher end displays of 2.0 inches and above,” said DisplaySearch senior vice president Barry Young, in a statement.