OLED Smartphones - introduction and industry news - Page 56

Display testing and evaluations master Raymond Soneira from DisplayMate posted a comprehensive review of the Super AMOLED displays used in Samsung's latest Galaxy S7 and S7 edge phones. Raymond says that Samsung continues to improve its OLED displays, and its new Super AMOLED displays are the best ones ever tested on a mobile device, surpassing the Super AMOLED used in the Note 5.

The GS7 display (5.1", 2560x1440, 577 PPI) is actually quite similar to the display used in the Galaxy S6, but with some significant improvements - the maximum brightness is 24% higher, and the contrast and contrast under high ambient light has also been significantly improved.

Samsung unveiled its 2016 flagship phones, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The phones feature similar specs, but the Edge has a large display that is curved around the edges (a flexible OLED of course) and a larger battery.

The Galaxy S7 sports a flat 5.1" 2560x1440 (577 PPI) Super AMOLED display, an 12MP camera (with a new high-performance sensor), 4GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of storage, optional dual-IM, NFC and a 3,000 mAh battery. The phone has a metal and glass body and is IP68 water resistance (up to 1.5 meters for 30 min).

When LG Electronics announced that their 2016 flagship phone, the G5 will have an "always on" display, this spurred speculation that it uses an OLED display (which makes sense as an LCD will require much more power in such a mode) - but here at OLED-Info we estimated that LGD will not be able to produce enough OLED panels for a new LGE flagship.

LG unveiled the G5 today, and indeed it uses an LCD - a 5.3" 1440x2560 one, in fact. This new smartphone is exciting early reviewers with it good looks, high-end specs, removable battery and plug-in modules.

IHS says that the demand for flexible AMOLED is rising dramatically (following the success of Samsung's Galaxy Edge series and the Apple Watch), and display makers are aggressively investing in expanded production capacity and flexible OLED technologies.

In 2014, flexible OLED shipments were only 2% of all AMOLED panel shipments. In 2015 57 million flexible AMOLED were produced, to grab a 20% share of the total AMOLED market (285 million panels, according to IHS). By 2020, flexible AMOLEDs will represent 40% of the total AMOLED market. Of course rigid AMOLED production will rise too - but the growth rate for flexible OLEDs is expected to be much higher than for rigid ones.

Researchers from Queen's University Human Media Lab developed a prototype flexible OLED smartphone that uses active haptic feedback - or bend input - to control the device. As you can see in the video below, you can play games or flip through comic books by bending the device.

The prototype device use a 6" 720p Flexible OLED display produced by LG Display - that's the same kind of display that was used in LG's G Flex phone in 2013. The device runs Android 4.4 and includes haptic feedback motors and bend sensors.

Samsung is set to unveil its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S7 next week at the MWC 2016 trade show in Barcelona. According to our information, Samsung will unveil two phones, the S7 and S7 Edge which will sport a curved flexible OLED display.

According to reports from Korea, Samsung Display already started producing the new OLEDs, and secured the capacity to produce 9 million flexible OLEDs per month for the S7 Edge at the A2 and A3 flexible OLED lines - which means that Samsung will pretty much use all its flexible OLED capacity for the new phones.

LG Electronics is set to unveil its next flagship phone, the G5, on February 21st. The company published a short teaser, saying that the new phone will have an "always on" display that shows the time and notifications:

Such an always on screens is highly suggestive of an OLED display - as an LCD will still require a lot of energy to display even a small amount of pixels because it uses a backlight. An OLED will only consume power proportional to the number of lit pixels.

It's been a long while since we heard of any OLED updates from Taiwan's Innolux. Innolux has been promising small scale OLED production back in 2012, but this never materialized. Now the company's president says that Innolux expects OLED demand in high-end smartphones to take off in 2017, and that Innolux continues its flexible OLED R&D.

Innolux AMOLED prototype, 2012

Earlier this month it was reported that Innolux is building a new 6-Gen LTPS line that will be used to produce both LCD and AMOLED panels. Innolux expects the new line to start producing panels in the first half of 2016. According to the latest comments from Innolux's president, it does not seem likely that Innolux is aiming to start OLED production soon.

MagnaChip announced that since 2007 it has shipped over 160 million AMOLED driver ICs. Most of these ICs went to smartphones, but MagnaChip says they also shipped drivers to digital cameras and tablets. The company's latest AMOLED drivers target the VR headset and automotive markets.

MagnaChip says the company has a unique proprietary foundry model. This model allows MagnaChip to apply its own unique AMOLED process patents as well as other intellectual property, proprietary process design kits and custom design-flow methodologies using internal and external foundries. MagnaChip's technology current uses 55-nm process nodes, and is developing sub 55-nm processes.

According to HSBC, there's a great pressure under Samsung's smartphone business, and the Korean company will attempt to introduce their first foldable OLED smartphone in the second half of 2016. Samsung's earlier plan was to release it in 2017.

Foldable OLED concept (2013)

A foldable smartphone may prove to be a hugely popular device as it may merge two devices - such as a tablet and a phone or a phablet and a small phone. It may just be the differentiatior that Samsung has been seeking for years over Android rivals - and over Apple too of course. The first such device, however, may more be a technological demo than a real mass produced flagship phone.