OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 19

LG Display announced that its OLED TV panels have received Eco-Product certification from Swiss-based SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance). LG's OLED TV panels have been recognized as eco-friendly products with low emissions of hazardous substances.

SGS evaluated the overall environmental aspects of OLED TV panels and found their environmental friendliness to be especially notable in three categories covering the lowering of indoor air pollutants, the reduction of hazardous substances, and high recyclability.

DSCC says that the high costs of microLED production will limit the adoption of microLED TVs, which are highly expensive, and the technology will remain in the niche of ultra large displays. The market is set to grow from around $25 million in 2020 to $228 million by 2026.

Just for comparison, six years after being commercialization, in 2019 OLED TV revenues were estimated at $2.5 billion.

DSCC says that the utilization rates at flexible OLED production lines have risen sharply in Q3 2020 - from around 40% to around 65% - mostly due to production for Apple's iPhones. A rise in Q3 utilization has also happened in past years, for the same reason.

It is also interesting to note that OLED TV utilization rates are decreasing - part of the reason is that LG's OLED fabs had limited capacity until now and operated at almost 100% rates, but as capacity increases LG is no longer capacity constrained.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q3 2020, with a net profit (of $9.8 million) - which was the company's first profitable quarter since 2018. Revenues in the quarter were $5.9 billion, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 16% from Q3 2019.

LG Display says that its turnaround was due to increased demand for IT displays and OLED displays - both OLED TV panels and flexible OLEDs for smartphones. Profitability was also assisted by the mass production that finally began at LGD's new OLED TV fab in Guangzhou. Next year LGD says it aims to ship over 7 million OLED TV panels.

LG Display announced a 3-year OLED technology partnership with The Walt Disney Studios’ StudioLAB, to "create exceptional viewing experiences".

LG Display will provide StudioLAB with access to its latest OLED technology advancements, and together the two companies will work on a variety of projects to equip Walt Disney Studios filmmakers with new production tools and provide consumers with fun, interactive and immersive experiences tied to the Studios’ film releases.

Market research company DSCC updates its WOLED TV production cost estimates and forecasts. DSCC says that LG is improving the production at its 8.5-Gen production line in Guangzhou and by next year the cost of production in China will be lower than comparable production in Korea - by about 15%. One meaningful technology adopted in China is MMG which enables around 20% cost reduction.

DSCC also estimates that while MiniLED TVs are cheaper to produce compared to OLEDs, the gap is less than 10%, which means that retail prices of MiniLEDs will be pretty much the same as the retail prices of OLED TVs.

LG Electronics announced that it is now shipping the world's first rollable OLED TV, the 65" 65RX OLED TV. The price is set at KRW 100 million (USD 87,000) - that's actually cheaper than expected.

The 65RX rollable TV is currently available in Korea only. The rollable OLED TV was first unveiled in early 2019, but LG did not manage to produce it until now as it faced several technology challenges, including low durability.

According to reports from China, TCL says its CSOT OLED inkjet printing project is going well, and the company expects to start mass production at its 8.5-Gen Guangzhou T8 (owned by Huaxing Optoelectronics) production line in 2024.

Earlier this year the Guanghzhou development commission issued a report that says CSOT's investment in this R&D and production project will amount to 46 billion yuan ($6.8 billion USD), and the construction of the actual production line will be in 2021-2023.

According to Omdia, LG Display have produced over 10 million OLED TVs since 2013. Omdia says that in Q4 2020 1.2 million OLED TVs will ship globally - up 30% from Q4 2019.

Omdia sees 3.3 million OLED TVs shipped in 2020. This is a 10% increase from 2019, but remember that in 2019 Omdia expected 5.5 million units to ship in 2020 - this estimate was later decreased several times. In 2024, Omdia expects over 9 million OLED TVs to ship.

Vizio started shipping its first OLED TVs, the OLED-H1 family. The TVs are available at Best Buy, for $1,199 (55") and $1,999 (65") - which makes these the lowest cost OLED TVs in the US.

The OLED-H1 TVs use either 55-inch or 65-inch 4K 120Hz WOLED panels. The TVs are based on the company's own IQ Ultra Processor and feature support for AMD's FreeSync, HDMI 2.1, an eARC port and a super sleek design.