OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 44

UBI Research is tracking the price of premium TV sold on Amazon.com in the US. As competition intensifies, the price gap between OLED and LCD TVs keeps getting lower - to the point where is not much difference between a high end Samsung QLED TV and LG's OLEDC7 OLED TVs.

In December 2016, the price gap between a 65" LG OLED TV to a 65" Samsung SUHD TV was about $1,000. The price gap as of today is only about $300. The price gap for a 55" TV is even lower (around $200).

According to IHS, production costs of 55" 4K OLED TVs have declined 55% from the beginning of 2015 to Q2 2017. IHS estimates that it costs $582 for LGD to produce a 55" OLED panel, and the price will continue to drop to reach $242 in 2021.

In early 2017 the cost of a 55" OLED TV is about 2.5 times the production cost of an equivalent 4K LCD TV panel. The price gap has narrowed as it was 4.3 times back in Q1 2015. The price in material cost is currently around 1.7 times - but other factors such as yields and depreciation increase LGD's production costs.

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.

According to a rather confusing report from Business Korea, it seems that the Korean Government committee decided to approve this plan, and LG is now free to start constructing its fab. The new fab, according to the initial plan at least, will be a joint-venture with the local government and LGD will hold a 70% share. The total cost for this fab will be KRW2.6 trillion ($2.3 billion USD).

LG Display announced that it has shipped over 200,000 OLED TV panels in September, over double the volume compared to September 2016. LGD is seeing high demand for its OLED TV panels, mostly from LG Electronics and Sony.

LGD expects OLED shipments to reach 210,00 units in November 2017. The company aims to produce 1.7 million OLED TV panels in 2017, and as new capacity comes on line the shipments in 2018 will reach 2.5 million panels.

During a press event in the UK, LG Display said that OLED technology holds 25% of the premium TV market in Europe. The company defines this market as TVs sold over 1,300 Euro. The market share in Benelux and Italy is 35% and in the UK it is 31%.

LGD also detailed its product roadmap. All of its OLED TVs in 2017 support 4K, and the company hopes to add 8K support in 2019 - when it will also release 80" OLEDs.

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. This is the first time a Korean company plans to produce OLEDs outside of Korea, and the Korean government is still considering whether to approve this plan as it sees OLED as a strategic technology Korea' economy.

Beyond lower-wages in China compared to Korea and the proximity to the huge Chinese market, LG is looking for a subsidy from the local government. LG Display's Guangzhou OLED line is supposed to be a joint-venture with the local government, where LGD will hold a 70% share.

LGD's current OLED TV panels use a bottom-emission architecture, but according to DSCC LGD is aiming to shift their production process to a top-emission design starting in 2019. LG currently has a pilot capacity of about 3,000 monthly top-emission substrates, and plans to start mass production (with over 10,000 monthly substrates) in 2019.

DSCC says that top-emission will be required for 65" 8K panels as a bottom-emission design will not be bright enough with such a high density. The shift to top-emission will increase the aperture ratio (=brightness) by around 10%.

LG Display currently produces all its OLED TV panels using an evaporation (VTE) process. Market research company DSCC says that ink-jet printing is more efficient than current VTE processes as it will result in simpler displays (no need for color filters, for example, as used by LG's current WRGB displays). Ink-Jet printing will also enjoy lower depreciation costs and lower indirect expenses such as water and electricity.

DSCC estimates that an ink-jet printed 55" OLED TV panel will cost 17% less to produce compared to a VTE produced panel. An ink-jet printed panel will theoretically be significantly brighter (as the color filters absorb a large portion of the light), however solution-based OLED materials have traditionally lagged behind evaporation ones (Merck though says that the latest soluble materials are on-par with evaporation ones).

LG display reported its financial results for Q3 2017 - revenues increased 4% over 2016 to reach $6.18 billion and operating profit increased 81% and reached $520 million.

LGD reported that it has increased its OLED TV panel shipments as it increased production capacity, and its wallpaper OLED TVs have received "excellent responses in the market". LGD says it will continue to focus on OLED products as part of its long-term preparation for the future.

Samsung has published a video showing how 12 hours of gaming effects different TV technologies. Samsung compare's it's own Q-LED (quantum-dots enhanced LED LCD TV) with LG's OLED TVs (the 2017 OLEDB7).

The video shows that following the extensive gaming run, Samsung's TV shows no image retention, while some problems are clearly visible on LG's TV.