October 2013

Tianma has been developing AMOLED technologies for a long time, and in August 2010 have decided to build a pilot AMOLED production line (4.5-Gen) in Shanghai. This pilot fab is able to produce around 1,000 glass substrates in a month. I visited Tianma's booth at SID 2012 and saw their direct-emission AMOLED prototypes (3.2" 320x480 and 12.1" 1280x800) made on an LTPS backplane:

Today we learned some more about Tianma's OLED and LTPS program. The company's first step is indeed the pilot line in Shanghai. This pilot line produces 2,000 monthly LTPS substrates. The company uses half for LCD and half for OLED production. Total investment in this pilot line amounted to 500 million RMB (over $82 million USD).

The Galaxy Round, Samsung's first flexible OLED device sports a 5.7" Full-HD (386 PPI) Super AMOLED display is already shipping in Korea and even reviewed and tested by the display experts over at DisplayMate. Engadget now posted a short hands-on review of this device, see link below.

Engadget does not mention anything about the display's quality, only about the curvature ergonomic and mostly talk about other features of this phone. This is a shame as DisplayMate says that the curve display is a major breakthrough - mostly because it reduces ambient light reflections and so improves screen readability, image contrast, color accuracy, and overall picture quality. It'll be interested to hear what more regular consumers say about this display.

Researchers from TU Dresden and Fraunhofer COMEDD are developing OLED lighting based bio-reactors that will be used to cultivate micro-algea that will help absorb CO₂ using photosynthesis.

Those micro algae (or phototropic microorganisms) can transform carbon dioxide (CO₂) into useful products such as proteins, dyes and other substances. OLED lighting may prove to enable a more effective process by providing the necessary lighting energy.

Touch Display Research released a new report about flexible display technologies (Flexible and Curved Display Technologies and Market Forecast Report). The research company forecasts that the flexible and curved display market will reach $27 billion by 2023:

This report include over 10 display technologies: OLEDs, LCDs, electrophoretic, LED, plasma, electrowetting, electrochromic and more. They have detail break down of the revenue information by 8 technology categories, but I guess it makes sense to assume OLEDs will take the lion share of this market. TDR does mention several curved applications that are already on the market: curved OLED TVs and LCD TVs, smart watches with flexible and curved display (they mention Nike's FuelBand and its curved LED array display).

StoreDot is an Israeli startup company that was established in 2011 to develop and commercialize new peptide-based technology originally discovered in Tel Aviv University. Storedot's technology allows them to synthesize new nano materials ("inspired by nature") that can be used in a wide variety of application - displays, batteries, memory and more.

StoreDot invited me for a visit in their offices (thanks guys!) to learn more about the company and the technology. The company's display technologies may compete and complement OLED panels, so this should be an interesting company to watch.

Back in December 2012, rumors started to circulate about an upcoming Apple smartwatch called the iWatch. First we heard reports that it will use a small PMOLED, and later rumors suggseted Apple decided to use a plastic flexible OLED. Today the Korea Herald claims that LG Display is very close to striking a deal with Apple to supply flexible OLEDs for the iWatch.

Apple 2011 flexible OLED watch patent

Korea Herald says that it isn't likely for Apple to rely on a single vendor and they suggest that RiTDisplay is a strong candidate as well. But this does not seem likely as the Taiwanese company does not have the technology or capacity to produce flexible AMOLEDs similar to LGD ones. Perhaps if Apple opts for a simpler PMOLED device than RiTDisplay is a possible supplier. They also list Japan Display as a candidate, but this is even less likely.

The Galaxy Round, Samsung's first flexible OLED device sports a 5.7" Full-HD (386 PPI) Super AMOLED display. It was released a few weeks ago in Korea but there were several question marks regarding this display - is it based on a plastic substrate? is it a YOUM display? is the display unbreakable? And does it make sense to have a curved display?

My friend Raymond Soneira from DisplayMate managed to get hold on this phone and put it through extensive testing like he always does. In his post Raymond actually answers all this questions. So first of all, Raymond confirms that the display is indeed a flexible OLED built on a plastic substrate. But samsung used a cover glass to protect it. This means that it is not an unbreakable display, which explains why Samsung does not brand it as a YOUM display.

Almost 10 years since launching OLED-Info, the site has grown dramatically together with the OLED industry - it is being read now by over 125,000 monthly readers and over 14,000 people are subscribed to the monthly newsletter. I often get requests from companies wanting to exposure their new products or services to the OLED community and in general increase their presence in this industry.

While still offering advertisement banner campaigns, today I am launching a new option in OLED-Info, company sponsorships. This will be an affordable (starting at $500 per year) way to promote your business and services in OLED-Info. You can get more exposure, connect with OLED-Info's excellent OLED branding (and 125,000+ monthly readers) and of course show your support for OLED-Info and the OLED community.

Sponsorship promotions at a glance:

• Enhanced company listing in our directory
• Better company listing placements, more category available
• Your company name or logo listed in our sponsor page and all monthly newsletters
• PR promotion on OLED-Info's site, social profiles and newsletter list
• Affordable - starts at only $500 per year!
• Get your OLED product or service in front of the entire OLED industry!
• More information available here

Special launch offer

I'm offering a special launch offer, If you opt to become a sponsor now for 2014, you will get the rest of 2013 free. Act quickly and you can get two months of free sponsorship advantages! There are three sponsorship levels, you can find more info here.

In July 2013, Chinese media reported that TCL's CSOT subsidiary is planning to establish a 8.5-Gen OLED TV fab. Today JRJ reports that TCL announced it it will invest 24.4 billion yuan (just over $4 billion) to build the new 8.5-Gen TV fab in Shenzhen. the fab will be owned by CSOT (Shenzhen Huaxing Photoelectric Technology).

This fab (called Huaxing Power Two) will have two lines, one for a-Si LCDs (70,000 monthly substrates) and one for Oxide-TFT (OLED TV and LCD TV?) panels (30,000 monthly substrates). According to the report, construction of this fab will commence towards the end of 2013. TCL is yet to raise the money for this fab.

LG officially launched the G Flex today in Korea. This is the first phone that uses LG Display's flexible plastic OLED display. The G Flex has a 6" 720p RGB flexible OLED display made by LG Display that is curved from top to bottom (unlike Samsung's Galaxy Round which is curved from left to right). Unlike Samsung, LG did specifically say this is a plastic-based display, but they too don't seem to mention the fact that it is shatterproof.

The G Flex has a 2.3Ghz Snapdragon S800 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory, a 13MP camera, NFC, Android 4.2.2 and a 3500mAh non-removable battery (LG Chem's curved battery). The G Flex has two rear-mounted buttons and a "self-healing" back (that will heal scratches quickly).