OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 43

Display measurement experts DisplayMate posted a review of LG's latest OLED TVs, specifically a 65" OLEDE7 model. DisplayMate performed an extensive set of tests and LG's OLED performed exceptionally well throughout all of the Lab Measurement Tests and Viewing Tests. DisplayMate says that "it is unquestionably the best performing TV that we have ever tested or watched".

LG's 2017 OLED TV is "visually Indistinguishable from perfect" and it breaks many TV display performance records. It is far better than the best Plasma TVs ever tested and is even better than the $50,000 Sony Professional CRT reference studio monitors that up until recently were the golden standard for picture quality, according to DisplayMate.

Analysts from CLSA returned from a journey to Asia with some interesting notes on the OLED industry. According to CLSA, spending in the OLED industry has peaked and OLED producers are not expecting to place any new equipment orders in the near future. This coincides with IHS estimates of over supply in the flexible OLED market in 2018.

According to CLSA, Samsung has a current capacity in its A3 and A4 (which should be ready by Q2 2018) OLED fabs to produce about 330-385 million OLED displays per year (11 lines, each about 15,000 monthly substrates) which SDC expects to be enough to satisfy Apple's and Samsung Electronics' demand. SDC does not see a strong demand from China's smartphone makers, surprisingly, due to the high cost of OLED displays. Without demand for larger displays (tablets/laptops) or perhaps for foldable devices, SDC's seem to be content with its current OLED capacity.

According to the Korea Herald, LG Display approved a plan to expand its OLED TV module plant in Vietnman. LGD will invest around $1.1 billion USD to expand the Vietnamese plant, which assembles the TVs (the panels themselves are produced in Korea). This fab expansion is planned to be carried out in the next four years in several phases.

The Korea Herald speculates that this expansion plan may have been approved due to Korea's government reluctance to approve LGD's OLED TV fab in China, although the Chinese fab will be an OLED TV fab and not a module plant.

In 2017 Philips launched its first OLED TV, the 55" 901F. According to FlatPanelsHD, Philips (or TP Vision, actually) is set to launch four new OLED TVs in 2018, including higher-end and lower end modules.

FlatPanelsHD noticed the following models: OLED973, OLED903, OLED873 and OLED803. All models will be available in 65" and the 903 and 803 will also be available in 55".

In July 2017 LG Display announced that it has decided to build a 8.5-Gen (2200x2500) OLED line in Guangzhou, China, to make OLED TV panels. The Korean government hesitated whether to approve this plan, as it sees OLED as a strategic technology Korea' economy and this is the first time a Korean company plans to build an OLED fab outside of Korea.

Earlier this month we posted a report from Business Korea that seemed (it was a rather confusing report...) to suggest that the Korean Government committee decided to approve this plan, and LG is now free to start constructing its fab. Today YonHap news says that the Korean government has not finished to review LGD's request.

JR Kyushu announced that it will install Japan's largest OLED signage, at Hakata Station in Fukuoka early next year. The sign is a curved display made up from 36 OLED TV (55") panels produced by LG Display.

The whole sign is 4 meters high and 7 meters wide, designed in a curve that seems as if the viewers are enclosed by the image. The display was jointed developed by Dai Nippon Printing and LG Electronics Japan. We have visited Fukuoka a few months ago (to participate in the TADF workshop) - it will be great to see this new OLED sign next time we are in Hakata Station.

OLED ink-jet developer Kateeva made several interesting updates regarding its OLED Ink Jet printing technologies. First up, the company formally introduced its inkjet equipment for large-area RGB OLED emitter deposition. Kateeva brands its new line as YIELDJet Explore and these systems are targeted for R&D lines and pilot lines.

Kateeva offers two systems, the Explore, which is used for early development and small panels (up to 200 mm substrates) and the Explore Pro which can be used to produce panels up to 55" in size (this is still a development/pilot system, though). Kateeva announced that it has shipped four Explore systems in 2017, and it expects to ship three additional systems by Q2 2018.

Last month we posted on reports from Korea claiming that Samsung is accelerating its effort to develop a Micro-LED based TV as it aims to regain its premium-TV market share (following its failure to keep up with LG's OLED TVs).

According to a new report from Korea, Samsung is further ahead than we thought, and the company will launch a 150-inch Micro-LED TV at CES 2018 (January 2018).

LG Electronics is offering special Black Friday discounts on some of its OLED TV models. It seems that the most meaningful discounts are for the "entry-level" OLEDB7 range. The 55" is now offered at $1,499 (down from the usual $1,999) while the 65" model costs $2,299 (down from the usual $2,799).

DSCC released a new market report which tracks the OLED materials market. According to DSCC's estimates, the OLED material revenues will reach $905 million in 2017 and will grow at a 20% CAGR to reach $2.25 billion in 2022. Note that these numbers do not include royalty payments.

DSCC sees the small/medium display materials growing at a 22% (from $586 million in 2017 to $1.56 billion in 2022) - and growing faster than OLED TV materials (CAGR 16%) as ink jet printing, which will begin to be adopted in 2020 will result in more efficient OLED deposition.