Next week at SID, Novaled will report on a new Vertical organic field-effect transistors (V-OFETs) that can be used to drive high-brightness AMOLED displays. Novaled says that the new backplane can be deposited on plastic backplanes, and it allows a 4X brightness enhancement compared to reference AMOLEDs.

Vertical-OETs has been first reported in 2011 by the University of Florida. That particular research used carbon-nanotube based backplanes, and it was spun-off to form a company called nVerPix which is commercializing the technology.

LG Chem started developing "truly flexible" plastic-based OLED panels back in 2013, and they recently finished that development effort with sample production already underway. The company now released this video showing the panels undergoing some flexibility tests (including the hammer test):

Currently LG Chem offers samples for $250 each, and mass production of these panels is expected by July 2015 - which will also mean a lower price. Those panels offer 60 lm/W, 75 lumens, a color temperature of 3,000K and a CRI of over 85. The bending radius is 30 mm.

Hong Kong's Truly Semiconductors announced that next month it will complete the construction of the first phase in the company's 4.5-Gen AMOLED fab in Huizhou, China. The equipment will be installed in October, and the production line will begin operation in Q1 2016.

Truly estimates that the new production line, which will be used to make small-sized AMOLED panels, will generate RMB5.3 billion (about $854 million) in annual revenue. The fab's capacity will be 15,000 monthly substrates.

Audi's Head of Electronics Ricky Hudi, says that the upcoming 2017 A8 Saloon car will sport several new technologies - including OLED lighting. Or at least the company is "working on the integration of OLEDs" for the 2017 flagship model.

Audi OLED lighting concept, 2012

Audi has been playing with OLED technologies for a long time. Back in 2012 they unveiled three new OLED lighting designs, and in 2013 they unveiled 3D OLED lighting taillight prototypes (developed with Philips and Merck). In 2012 Audi also installed AMOLED digital rear view "mirrors" in their R18 sports prototype cars. It'll be interesting to see if the upcoming A8 will use one of these designs.

IGNIS Innovation has secured $14 million in a new financing round. Ignis will use the new funds to accelerate product development especially the recently announced True Vision Display technology. True Vision Displays use the company's compensation technologies which extend OLED display lifetime and efficiency, and also enable HDR - even on mobile displays.

CSOT 5.5-inch MaxLife AMOLED prototype

Ignis further said that is working with partners to develop True Vision Display OLEDs for the wearable, smartphone, automotive, tablet and TV markets. Ignis expects the first products to launch next year.

According to India Times, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras is seeking government funding to start a project to develop low-cost OLED production processes. The IIT estimate the project at Rs500 million (about $78 million).

The researchers at the IIT are looking at two technologies: a new patterning technology, and a silicon based substrate that will enable to integrate the backplane into the substrate and so lower costs.

According to Digitimes Research, the combined AMOLED investments of LG Display and Samsung Display will be slightly lower in 2015 than it was in 2014 and will reach KRW6.7 trillion ($6.6 billion) - down from KRW7 trillion ($6.9 billion).

SDC's investments will go towards expanding AMOLED capacity, as it aims to introduce AMOLED panels into more mid-range devices and wearables. SDC will also increase its flexible AMOLED capacity.

DisplaySearch says that they see an increase in high-end small/medium displays shipments in 2015. AMOLED displays, in particular, will grow 44% to reach 260 million units (up from around 200 million in both 2013 and 2014). The growth trend is expected to accelerate starting in 2016.

DisplaySearch says that this is mostly dues to increased high-end smartphone shipments - but AMOLED displays for the wearable market will also see increased shipments. Apple alone will probably buy over 10 million flexible AMOLED panels (produced by LG Display).

A couple of months ago, LG said that they aim to unveil HDR OLED TVs in Q3 2015 - with a higher brightness compared to regular OLED TVs. Now LG says that their new EG9600 OLED TVs will soon be getting HDR support - via a firmware upgrade.

LG did not disclose when this will happen exactly - but they will release the upgrade "once technical specifications for HDR are finalized".

Update: here's a video showing the new OLED prototypes in action

Maybe in response to analysts doubting the future of OLED TVs, LG Display held a showcase today in Korea with its latest OLED TV prototypes. So first of all, the company unveiled a new 0.97 mm thick 55" flat OLED panel, that virtually "sticks to the wall" using magnets. The OLED panel itself weighs only 1.9 Kg.

LG Display also demonstrated a convex OLED panel - that will mainly be used for digital signage for large-scale outdoor advertising (this is not a new idea, Panasonic demonstrated similar panels last year). Finally, LG revealed plans to release a large 99" TV within the year.