February 2017

On May 10-11, IdTechEx will host its annual Printed Electronics Europe event that will focus on the commercialization of printed, organic and flexible electronics. The OLED-Info team will visit this event, so if anyone wishes to schedule a meeting - now is a great time to do so!

This event (which according to IdTechEx is the largest event of its kind) includes a conference, an exhibition, a demonstration street showing a full range of interactive products and prototypes, an end-user forum, master classes and IdTechEx's early-stage Launchpad.

BASF announced that it acquired light management expert Rolic AG, a private company headquartered in Switzerland. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Rolic develops and markets nanoscale surface modification systems that achieve unique light management and optical effects. Rolic has three business units: displays, security and organic electronics. For the OLED market, Rolic develops materials that improve light outcoupling, lifetime and efficiency for OLED displays and lighting panels.

LG revealed its 2017 OLED TV lineup in January at CES, but the company did not yet disclose the price or actual release date of these new TVs. A few days ago we found some initial information on Amazon.com, and today Robert Zohn from Value Electronics updated us with more details.

Below you can see the release date and price of LG's entire 2017 OLED TV range, except the entry-level B7 TVs. Roberts though says that LG may of course change the release dates. Prices may also end up lower than official prices, this has been the case every year since LG launched its first OLED TVs in 2013.

Universal Display reported its financial results Q4 2016: revenues were $74.6, up 20% from Q4 2015. Material sales were $29.2 million (emitter sales increase 25% over Q3 2016) and Samsung's licensing revenues were $37.5 million. The net income in Q4 2016 was $25.8 million.

UDC's revenues in 2016 reached $198.9 million, up slightly from 2015 ($191 million) - mostly driven by higher royalty and license fees (commercial material sales revenues were lower than in 2015). Net income in 2016 was $48.1 million, and operating cash flow was $80.3 million.

UBI Research estimates that Samsung Display's AMOLED market share will be 89% in 2017. As more and more OLED producers join the market, SDC's market share will fall to 72% by 2020.

Samsung Display will still increase its production capacity substantially - but it will not be able to remain its market share. The whole market will grow to $57 billion by 2020 (up from about $12-15 billion in 2016), so this is still an excellent growth for Samsung.

Countless reports claim that the 2017 iPhone 8 (or will it be a >$1000 iPhone X?) will use AMOLED displays for at least one variant. Most of these reports suggested that Apple want to use a flexible curved AMOLED display.

TrendForce, following talks to supply chain sources, now says that Apple was not happy with the production yields and drop-test results of those flexible OLEDs, and the company decided to adopt a flat display (with rounded edges, what is called 2.5D glass). This design is similar to the one used in current iPhone models.

Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology developed new electron injection layer and electron transport layer materials suitable for OLED displays produced on IGZO backplanes. The new materials, based on transparent amorphous oxides, were found to increase the stability of the OLED device.

The new materials are transparent, and chemically stable. The can be adopted for use in web processes - which means that low-cost production processes are possible.

Applied Materials' CEO, Gary Dickerson, says that demand for advanced chips and technologies will keep rising as the smartphone race gets tighter and tighter. Specifically regarding OLED displays, Gary estimates that we are in the early innings of the adoption of OLED into mobile devices.

Gary says that even at the rate of equipment being purchased today, the OLED market represents at least a $2 billion opportunity for Applied. And it is expected that the rate of adoption of OLED displays will increase.

LG revealed its 2017 OLED TV lineup in January at CES, but the company did not disclose the prices or actual release date of these new TVs. Well, except the 65" OLEDW7 Wallpaper TV which costs $7,999 and is up for pre-order at Best Buy.

Today Amazon.com published product pages for some of LG's 2017 OLED TVs, with listed prices. Amazon lists the 55" OLEDC7, the 65" OLEDE7 and the 65" OLEDG7 signature TV. Amazon did not yet publish its product page for the OLEDB7, but it's still great to finally know LG's prices for 2017:

• 55" OLEDC7: $2,499
• 65" OLEDE7: $4,999
• 65" OLEDG7: $6,999

Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) developed a stretchable circuit that includes an OLED display, produced entirely using an ink-jet printer.

The researchers used special developed inks to produce both the circuits and the organic elements - and they say that the ink was also used to produce the substrate, but that seems rather unlikely.