AT&T is selling the Samsung Captivate phone now for $200, with a service plan. The Captivate (Galaxy S) is an Android phone with a 4" WVGA 800 X 480 Super-AMOLED display. Samsung has already sold more than a million such phones globally, in just 3 weeks.
Samsung Captivate
You can buy the Samsung Captivate for AT&T ($200), or you can buy it unlocked for $599.
GE and Konica Minolta announced that they have achieved a "major breakthrough" in their white OLEDs: an efficient 56Lm/w flexible white OLED that is made using solution-coatable materials in a roll-to-roll printing process. The materials have "commercially viable lifetime" (we do not know exactly what they mean by that).
GE and Konica Minolta flexible desk lamp prototype
GE and Konica Minolta plan to introduce their flexible OLED lighting products next year (2011), and have already displayed some early prototype lamps (one of which is shown above). They are working together since 2007. KM hopes to see $1 billion in OLED Lighting sales by 2018. KM has licensed OLED IP from UDC.
Samsung says that they have sold over a million Galaxy S phones globally in 3 weeks. They have also sold over a million Wave phones so far. Samsung aims to sell 10 million Galaxy S phones globally. We hope that they'll have enough Super-AMOLED displays...
Samsung Wave s8500The Wave has a 3.3" Super-AMOLED, and runs the Bada OS. It's shipping in the US, unlocked for $399. The Galaxy-S has a larger (4") Super-AMOLED and runs Android. You can buy the Galaxy S unlocked for $599.
Samsung have been using UDC's PHOLED materials (red, and soon green) for quite some time - the original agreement was announced in 2005. The agreement has expired, and the companies agreed to extend it for 3 months (until September 30th). Universal Display and Samsung will negotiate in an effort to enter into a new business arrangement.
There are some new rumors about Apple's 2nd-Gen iPad, that will use 5.6" and 7" AMOLED displays. According to the rumors, the iPad 2 will be launched at 4Q 2010. A new 9.7" version will also be released, with some "minor" changes, and will still use an IPS-LCD. The smaller iPads will mainly target the e-reader market.
While it's true that OLED costs are expected to drop, it's still unlikely that Apple will find a supplier that can make enough OLED displays. Samsung can't keep up with current demand for smaller displays (4" or less), and their new plant will not be ready by the July 2011. There are other companies working on new OLED plants (LG, AUO, TPO) but these will also not be able to meet Apple's demand.
Last week we reported that Novaled is set to become an OLED Lighting manufacturer, moving away from the display business (the original post came from OLEDNet). Today Novaled tells us that in fact this is not true. Novaled's core business remains their technology licensing and material sales (the materials are made by BASF). They are also acting very successfully in the display field and have very good relationships with Korean manufacturers.
So this sets things straight...
Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch, is optimistic about AMOLED production capacity: "I expect in the next three years for at least 20 new AMOLED production lines to open up... This is the future of the display technology on smartphones and you'll see a lot of companies investing money to enter".
We already know of a few production lines that are expected in the coming years: Samsung has begun working on their 5.5-Gen Plant (that'll have 3 lines, a $2.2 billion investment), LG is also investing heavily in new lines, TPO is expected to launch products soon, AUO will soon start building their AMOLED line and Visionox has a pilot line ready.
The HTC Droid Incredible was not shipping for a while because of AMOLED shortage, and it was reported that it'll start shipping again in July 12th. So it's one day earlier, and indeed it seems that the Droid is shipping again - at least from Amazon.
The HTC Incredible is an Android (v2.1) phone with a large 3.7" 480x800 WVGA touch AMOLED display, 1Ghz processor, 8mp camera, 8GB of internal memory and a microSD slot.
The Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) will launch on the AT&T network on July 18th, for $200 (on-contract). The Captivate is an Android phone with a 4" 800 X 480 Super-AMOLED, 1Ghz processor and can record HD video.
Samsung Galaxy S
iSupply is reporting about the AMOLED shortage and its effect on android smartphones. Interestingly, they say that TPO Display (which is now a part of Chimei Innolux) is planning to introduce AMOLED products at the end of 2010 or early 2011.
TPO were developing 3"-4" panels for mobile phones and cameras (it was reported
that they will supply Nokia with these AMOLEDs). TPO were facing some technical problems, that caused some delays, and it wasn't clear what will happen to that OLED program after the merger with Chimei Innolux. It's good to hear that it's still going forward.
