OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 17

LG Electronics announced it sold 2.04 million OLED TVs in 2020, the first time it passed the 2 million sales market. This represents a growth of 23.8% over 2019.

According to Omdia, LG Electroncis holds a 56% market share of the global OLED TV market. The average selling price of LG's OLED TVs was $1971.9, over four times higher than the average selling price of LCD TVs.

Sony's flagship 2021 Android OLED TV, the A90J, will start shipping on March 15th, starting at $2,999 for the 55" model. The A90J use LG's latest WOLED panels, with sizes of 55-, 65- and 83-inches. Sony says that the A90J is its brightest OLED TV ever.

The TV uses Sony's latest Cognitive Processor XR that provides the company's latest AI processor for an upgraded audio and visual experience. Other features includes HDMI 2.1, 4K 120Hz support, eARC, VRR and ALLM, Netflix Calibrated mode, HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and IMAX Enhanced support.

DSCC published an interesting post that details the production costs of both WOLED and miniLED TV panels. So first of all, it details LG's current costs for producing OLED TVs, as you can see in the chart below. The costs of producing larger 77-inch and 8-3inch panels are significantly larger than the costs of 65-inch and smaller TV panels:

Interestingly, DSCC says that in 2020, the production costs in LG's Guangzhou fab was higher than the costs in LG's Korean OLED TV fab as the yields in Korea are higher - but this will change in 2021 as China has lower costs for depreciation, personnel and more. DSCC estimates that production costs for a 55-inch or 65-inch WOLED panel will be 14% lower in China than in Korea.

Ireland-based OLED IP company Solas OLED announced that LG Display settled its OLED TV patent dispute with the company, and has agreed to pay a license for its patents. This resolves a number of patent infringement actions (in the US, China and Germany) brought by Solas against LG Display and a certain number of its customers, including Sony Corporation.

Towards the end of 2020 Solas filed a complaint to the US International Trade Commission against Samsung Electronics and BOE, saying that the two companies infringe upon some of its AMOLED patents.

According to a new report from Korea, LG Display is enjoying high demand for its 48-inch OLED TV panels, especially from gamers, and the company aims to expand its production of such panels.

LGD currently produces the panels at its new Guangzhou OLED TV fab, in which it uses one 8.5-Gen glass plate to produce two 77-inch panels and two 48-inch panels. It now plans to start making 48-inch displays in its Paju OLED TV fab, where it will cut one 8.5-Gen plate to 8 48-inch panels.

According to reports from Vietnam, LG Display plans to expand its OLED TV module production facility in Hai Phong, Vietnam, in a $750 million investment. If approved, LG's plan will increase its total investment in Vietnam to $3.25 billion.

LG Display built it first Hai Phong facility back in 2016, and it then expanded the module factory in 2017. According to recent reports, Samsung Electronics is also looking into building an OLED display module factory in Vietnam.

In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. The company is already starting to produce prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021. Reports in 2020 suggested that Samsung Electronics was hesitant about the adoption of QD-OLED panels.

This may have changed now, as we hear that Samsung Electronics has decided to cooperate with SDC and release its first QD-OLED TV next year (2022).

DSCC posted an interesting post with its latest views and forecasts on the OLED material market. The company expects AMOLED stack material sales to grow at a 18% CAGR in the next five years, from $294 million in 2019 to $2.46 billion in 2024. Compared to its previous estimate, DSCC sees higher sales as demand for OLED TVs and OLEDs in the IT market (tablets and notebooks) is increasing.

DSCC also posted an analysis of LGD's new evo OLED material stack. Compared to LGD's "standard" WOLED stack, the evo adds an emitting green layer to improve the brightness by 20%. This of course adds an extra material cost to the panel price.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q4 2020. Revenues reached $6 billion USD, up 11% from Q3 2020 and 16% from Q4 2019. Net profits jumped to $555 million, up from $10 million in Q3 2020 and a loss of $1.6 billion in Q4 2019.

LG Display says that demand for TV and IT products remained strong as the global work-from-home situation continued. Shipments of OLED TV panels and p-OLED smartphone panels increased meaningfully.

Earlier this week LG Electronics announced its OLED TV range for 2021, with its higher-end TV models (the OLED C1, the OLED evo G1 range and the 8K Z1). Today LG unveiled the company's two entry-level 2021 OLED TV ranges.

The OLED B1 updates its OLED BX range from 2020 and features 4K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, LG's previous-generation Alpha 7-4 processor, HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and HDMI 2.1. The OLED A1, available in 48/55/65 and 77-inch sizes, is similar but with a 60Hz 4K WOLED and HDMI 2.0 only. It will be interesting to see the OLED A1 prices when the TVs ship later in 2021.