OLED Smartphones - introduction and industry news - Page 40

DSCC says that Samsung Display's OLED utilization has started to improve as it is starting to produce new OLED displays for new smartphones by Samsung, Apple and other makers.

SDC's utilization rates started to improve in May 2018, with the rigid A2 OLED fab expected to exceed 80% in June. At 100% yields, the A2 can produce 175,000 monthly substrates. DSCC says that 5.5-inch to 6-inch rigid OLEDs cost will fall to $23 in Q3 2018, with the price premium over LTPS LCDs will be around $5. DSCC says that at such a small gap they expect demand for rigid OLEDs will remain strong.

CLSA says that OLED penetration in the smartphone market was unchanged at 29% in Q1 2018 (up from 25% from Q1 2017, though). Unit shipments increased 12% from Q1 2017 to reach 96 million, but were down 15% from Q4 2017.

OLED adoption in Samsung Electronics' smartphones increased to 72% in Q1 2018, mostly due to the successful launch of the GS9. Apple saw a decrease from 35% in Q4 2017 to 32% in Q1 2018 as iPhone X shipment decreased.

Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone X is the company's first OLED Phone - with a 5.8" 1125x2436 (458 PPI) flexible Super AMOLED display that covers almost the entire front of the phone. The iPhone-X is difficult to repair and Apple charges $279 if your screen brakes outside of the warranty.

It is now reported that some companies in China are offering replacement screens for the iPhone X directly via eBay and other online retailers (note: affiliate link to eBay). Most of these screens cost more than the $279 Apple charges - and some of them are actually LCD displays and not OLEDs. These displays are thicker than the original, run hotter and also drain the battery faster. Some of these display also feature some serious defects...

China-based OLED producer Visionox had a very impressive booth at SID 2018, demonstrating the company's latest AMOLED and PMOLED displays and prototypes.

Visionox is now producing AMOLED displays for smartphones and wearables and the company showcased a wide range of AMOLED panels and also commercial phones that use these panels. Visionox also demonstrated many new display prototypes.

Samsung is aiming to launch its first foldable OLED phone by the end of 2018 or early 2019, but two months ago it was reported in Korea that Huawei aims to beat Samsung and announce its first foldable phone in November 2018, using LGD's OLEDs.

A new report from ETNews now says that Huawei is actually working with China-based BOE Display, and not LGD. The first Huawei phone will have a 8" display and it will fold into a smartphone-sized device. This report makes more sense than the LGD report, as it seems that BOE's foldable OLED technology is more advanced than LGD's - and in fact last week the company unveiled a 7.56" 2048x1535 foldable OLED.

China-based BOE Display had an impressive booth at SID, where it displayed the company's latest displays. The company's flexible and foldable OLED prototypes and panels took center stage, as BOE is ramping up its flexible OLED production and is also developing its next generation technologies.

BOE's foldable prototype was a 6.2" WQHD (1440x3008, 538 PPI) panel that features a fold-radius of 1R and include a touch layer. The display has a super narrow border, and is 0.21 mm thick. BOE says that it can withstand over 100,000 bending cycles.

IHS estimates that a notch-design increases the production cost of a smartphone display (whether LCD or OLED) by more than 20%. A notch-type 5.9" OLED (like in the iPhone X) costs $29, 25% higher than the cost of a regular 5.8" OLED.

IHS explains that cutting the notch results in yield loss, which is the main driver of the higher costs (the panel itself, of course, is also larger before cutting the notch in the comparison IHS makes). In theory, cutting a plastic OLED is easier than the glass-based LCDs, and IHS forecasts that manufacturing costs for notch OLEDs will fall far more rapidly than the costs of notch LCDs.

Samsung announced three new entry level smartphones in its Galaxy J series, all with Super AMOLED infinity displays.

The three phones are the Galaxy J4 (5.5" 720x1280, 267 PPI), the Galaxy J6 (5.6" 720x1480, 294 PPI) and the Galaxy J8 (6" 720x1480, 274 PPI).

Apple started adopting OLEDs in the 2017 iPhone X, and it is expected that it will introduce one or two new OLED modules in its iPhone lineup in 2018 (which will likely include a total of 3 phone models).

A new report from Korea's ETNews suggests that Apple decided to exclusively use OLED displays for all of its iPhone models in 2019. As OLEDs provide a better image quality, and are also thinner, lighter, flexible and more efficient than LCDs, it is only a matter of time until all of Apple's iPhones and mobile device make the switch to OLEDs.

Visionox showcased it latest flexible OLEDs in a recent tradeshow, and Notebook Italia published this interesting video showing all of Visionox's displays.

Visionox is showing several interesting displays - a 5.99" 1080x2160 (403 PPI) AMOLED edge type flexible OLED, a full-screen 5.99" 2160×1440 flexible AMOLED and a 6.21" notch-type 2160×1440 AMOLED, with a touch sensor under the screen.