Apple OLED rumors never die. This time it's quite far fetched - according to "sources close to Apple", the company is working on three new iTV models. The flagship one will include a rollable 50" display, and will cost ¥200,000 (over $32,000...).

I'd love to see a 50" flexible OLED being commercialized, but leading flexible OLED companies (Samsung and LG) aren't even close to producing such a display. If we're lucky, we'll get curved plastic-based 5" OLEDs in 2013, but that's about it.

During a trade show in Japan, Fujifilm unveiled new bendable speakers. The company presented several interesting prototypes, showing how these speakers can be made in all sorts of shapes:

Making a bendable diaphragm is not easy. Soft materials absorb vibrations so it's difficult to make one that's flexible and have good acoustic performance. Fujifilm managed to achieve that by using viscoelastic polymer that hardens in the audible range (20Hz to 20kHz) and softens in the range for bending it by hand (several hertz). This polymer was mixed with piezoelectric ceramics, coated with an unspecified layer for protected and then sandwitched with electrodes. The piezoelectric ceramics vibrates when voltage is applited and the viscoelastic polymer functions as a diaphragm.

Professor Vivian Yam from Hong Kong University explains the University's research into efficient phosphorescent OLED materials. Professor Yam is investigating intermolecular interactions and the range of colors those materials can produce. They are also researching OPV panels.

According to industry insiders, Samsung is considering to invest in a 6.5-Gen (1500x1800 mm) AMOLED fab to produce tablet and laptop OLED displays. The company is currently producing AMOLED displays in a 5.5-Gen (1300x1500 mm) fab, but this is geared mostly for small sized panels (up to 5" in size or so), and their upcoming 8-Gen (2200x2500 mm) fab will make larger panels for OLED TV applications, and the pilot line yields are too low for medium panels.

According to our source, Samsung thinks that the market is now ready for medium sized OLED panels. If this is true, then indeed they need to have an AMOLED fab that's somewhere between the 5.5-Gen and the 8-Gen ones.