OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 15

LG Display's current production capacity at its 8.5-Gen OLED TV line in Guangzhou is 60,000 monthly substrates. According to a new report from Korea, the company is now expanding the capacity to 90,000 monthly substrates.

The expansion project will be ready by July 2021. In fact the company planned this expansion many years ago, and most of the equipment has already been planned to handle the extra capacity and LG managed to shorten the production time for each substrate (Takt time).

Omdia estimates that over 22,000 units of large-area (at least 80-inch) OLED TVs will ship in 2021, up from 900 units in 2020. OLED TVs ranging from 70- to 79-inch will also hit a record sales volume of 325,700 units, up 70% from 2020 (which saw a 245% increase in 70- to 79-inch OLED sales).

According to Omdia, in 2020 sales of 60- to 69-inch OLED TVs exceeded that of 50- to 59-inch ones for the first time, and in 2021 Omdia expects this trend to continue and even expand.

DSCC says that inkjet printing technologies for OLED display production is finally starting to gain traction, and the company sees IJP OLED display capacity to increase in a 137% CAGR from 2020 to 2025, to reach 7.1 million sqm.

As you can see from the chart, most of the growth will come from the printing of the quantum-dots color conversion layers in Samsung's QD-OLED fabs. Actual RGB inkjet printing will be confined to JOLED's fab which will start mass producing in 2021. In 2024, China Star (CSoT) will begin printing OLED TV panels at its T8 line.

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billion, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billow, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

US-based aircraft cabin technology developers DPI Labs announced that its 4K OLED displays for business and VVIP aircraft cabins are now available. In fact the company completed the first installation of its OLED displays (55-inch and 65-inch) on a VVIP Boeing 767 in January 2021.

This first OLED installation included a complete DPI cabin management system consisting of passenger and cabin crew control panels, audio/video distribution, cabin control modules and DPI’s multi-colored LED cabin lighting.

TCL said in a recent press conference that the company plans to start producing OLED TV panels in 2023. These OLED panels will be printed using an inkjet printing process.

TCL has been a long time believer in inkjet printing for OLED displays, and the company has established Juhua Printing in 2016 (together with Tianma and other collaborators) as an "open-innovation platform" to develop ink-jet printing of OLED panels. In 2020 TCL invested $187 million USD in Japan's inkjet printing developer and producer JOLED, and has also signed an agreement to jointly develop OLED TV printing technologies.

According to an interesting report from Korea, Samsung Electronics is discussing a potential supply agreement with LG Display for WOLED TV panels. Samsung is aiming, according to the report, to buy 1 million OLED TV panels in 2021, and 4 million (around 50% of LGD's capacity!) in 2022.

This development, if true, may have a major impact on the industry, and may spur LGD (and other OLED makers) to accelerate OLED TV production and capacity expansion plans.

As LG Electronics is launching its 65" rollable TV (65RX OLED) globally, market researchers from Omdia estimate that shipments of rollable TVs will be around 3,000 next year. The market will grow to 74,000 units in 2024 and 672,000 units in 2027.

This is fast growth, but numbers will still be very limited, it seems as Omdia does not expect mass market adoption for rollable TVs.

In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. It was reported before that SDC is started to produce panel prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021.

According to a new report from Korea, SDC is set to begin producing full module prototypes in June this year. In addition SDC had to increase the brightness of its panels as TV makers said it is not enough for premium TV adoption. SDC will produce both TV and monitor prototypes, which it will send to potential customers (such as Samsung Electronics, Sony, and Chinese TV makers). When customers approve the prototypes, SDC will be ready for commercial production.

China-based TV maker Skyworth announced two exciting new OLED TVs. First up is the the Skyworth W82, which is the world's first bendable TV, that can change from a flat screen to a curved one (with a curvature radius of 1000R), which Skyworth says is suitable especially for gamers.

The W82 sports a 65-inch 120Hz WOLED TV panel and features Dolby Vision, HDR10, Skyworth's AI Picture Quality 4K engine, VRR and 240Hz Crystal Motion OLED. The TV will start shipping in May 2021 in China for 29,999 Yuan (around $4,575).