OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 45

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 not happy with this plan as it sees OLED as a strategic technology Korea' economy.

According to reports from Korea, The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea organized a special committee to discuss whether to allow LGD to built its Guangzhou fab. This is the first time that a special committee was formed in Korea for such a matter.

Chinese TV maker Changhong demonstrated a new wallpaper-style OLED TV at IFA 2017. The TV prototype supports 4K resolution and HDR.

Changhong actually has a model name for the 65" TV, 65Q5AZH. The company did not yet reveal this an an actual product nor give any launch estimates, but it did say it will also have a 55" model.

Panasonic is demonstrating a new transparent 4K OLED TV prototype at the IFA 2017 exhibition. Panasonic did not reveal any commercialization plans or any technical details on this prototype.

Last year at IFA Panasonic demonstrated a new transparent display, showing several use cases for this technology - in wine refrigerators, in living room cabinets and more. Back then I wondered whether it was an OLED as reported - but now Panasonic specifically says this is an OLED panel. The 2016 prototype had an FHD resolution, so this year is certainly an improvement.

LG Electronics is offering discounts on its OLED TVs in Korea, with aims to increase its OLED TV sales. Discounts range from $875 to almost $1,500. LG says it hopes more users will be able to enjoy LG's high-end OLEDs, and the discounts will be available till the end of September.

Most reports suggest that LGD cannot keep up with demand for its OLED TV panels. It may be that LGE initiated these discounts for its premium OLED TVs and not for its entry-level OLEDs and so this does not reflect on LGD's OLED TV sales but rather on LGE's sales mix.

China TV maker Skyworth demonstrated several new OLED technologies at IFA 2017. First up is a 77" 4K OLED TV, which you can see on the video below.

Skyworth also demonstrated a Crsytal-Sound OLED technology - which seems to be similar to LG's technology (that also has the same name, which probably means this is indeed based on LGD's tech).

According to Business Korea, Sony is enjoying "explosive" demand for its OLED TVs since the beginning of Q2 2017, and the Japanese TV maker has reached out to LGD asking to double OLED TV shipments.

Sony will receive a total of 300,000 OLED TV panels from LGD in 2017, and it aims to order more than 600,000 panels per year starting in 2019 (once LGD can increase its OLED TV capacity). The Korean report suggested that Sony may assist LGD with an investment to secure the capacity.

UBI Research estimates smartphone OLED display shipments reached 95.3 million units in Q2 2017, up 2.6% from last year (92.9 million Q2 2016) while TV panel shipments grew 165% to reach 370,000 units.

Compared to last quarter (Q1 2017), smartphone shipments grew 0.6%. Samsung Display is still the clear market leader - with a market share of 96.7%. OLED TV panel shipments increased 21.2% from Q1 2017, and UBI expects this market to continue growing gradually throughout 2017.

According to IHS, sales of quantum-dot enhanced LCD TVs, or QLED TVs, dropped 48% in Q2 2017 compared to Q1 2017. Total sales in Q2 amounted to only 351,000 units - down from 671,000 in Q1 2017. OLED TV sales, meanwhile, increased from 29% from 212,000 units to 282,000 units.

Following this report, Business Korea speculates that Samsung Electronics may have to change its premium TV strategy, as it faces market share lose in this very important segment and may lose its leading position in the total TV market.

The Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, India, installed a huge OLED-based signage display. The Landmark Signage makes use of 70 custom-made curved OLED panels made by LGD to create a beautiful display.

LG says that the new signage can create immersive augmented reality images based on 4K content. This is a huge installation that weighs 4.8 ton.

Chinese blogging site Weibo shared some very blurry photos that seem to show a TV being tested by Apple in a special testing environment. The site claims that this photo shows a secret 60 OLED TV that Apple is developing.

Obviously this can only be considered a rumor at best - and of course even if Apple is testing a product or a design, it does not mean it will see the light of day. Nothing in this photo proves that this is an OLED, or whether it is indeed 60" in size.