According to a report in Korea, Samsung Electronics has decided to start adopting OLED displays in all of its tablet devices and to increasingly use OLEDs in laptops.

Samsung Display is currently producing OLEDs for tablets and laptops in a limited quantity, as most of its OLED capacity is dedicated to mobile phone displays. According to ETNews SDC will continue to gradually convert its LCD lines to OLED and the ultimate goal of SDC is to only produce OLED displays for mobile devices.

Digitimes Researcher states that currently Samsung Display and LG Display both rely on imported organic materials used in OLED production, but the two Korean makers aim to decrease this reliance. Both companies are buying stakes in companies outside of Korea (for example Samsung's Novaled acquisition and Sun Fine Chem investment) in order to obtain patents and move production in house, mostly at LG Chem and Samsung SDI.

The polyimide used as a substrate in flexible OLEDs, for example, is produced by Japanese Ube Industries - and used by both LG and samsung. Several organic materials used in the OLED stack are produced by Universal Display (PHOLED emitters), Idemitsu Kosan, Dow Chemical and Merck. Both companies use glass mostly from Corning and high-temperature thin film for the back-end processing from 3M.

Taiwan-based PMOLED maker Wisechip announced it is developing transparent and flexible PMOLED displays last year, and the company has presented new prototype displays in a trade show in Germany last week.

Wisechip demonstrated three flexible OLEDs - a 1.8" 160x32 panel and a 1.36" 128x16 panel. Both are monochrome (white) panels as you can see in the photo above. The third display is a 256x64 one. The curvature radius of Wisechip's displays is 40 mm. The photo also includes a demonstration of a PMOLED display embedded in a credit card form.

US-based Light Polymers announced a $24.3 million Series A funding round, to advance its OLED display technology and scale up production.

Light Polymers is developing products based on lyotropic liquid crystals for several applications - including OLED displays. Using the new funds, Light Polymers aims to expand its OLED R&D and scale up the chemistry and film production of its 35 micron-thin OLED circular polarizer. Light Polymers also aims to develop a 10-micron OLED polarziers.

In January 2017 Sony finally launched its first real OLED TV , the XBR-A1E Bravia OLED TV, and now Sony announced the prices of its TVs: $4,999 for the 55" model and $6,499 for the 65" one. That's somewhere between LG's OLEDE7 and Signature OLEDG7 OLED TVs. According to Amazon the TVs will ship in a month or two (which means April or May).

Sony's XBR-A1E feature a flat 4K HDR WRGB OLED panel (produced by LG Display), an Android TV platform and a built-in speaker which is part of the stand behind the TV to create a stand-less form factor. There will also be a 77-inch model, but Sony did not reveal the price of that one yet.

Solomon Systech announced it financial results for 2016, and the Hong Kong based display IC maker reported strong growth of its PMOLED display drivers in 2016, following strong demand from the wearable market.

Solomon Systech also announced several new design wins for its PMOLED display drivers with "world-renowned brands of wearable health and fitness devices". In January 2017 the company shipped its millionth SSD1306 PMOLED driver, the best selling OLED driver ever. The SSD1306 has been introduced in 2008 and is (according to Solomon Systech) the de-facto PMOLED module design standard.

Taiwan's AU Optronics started to mass produce smartphone-sized OLED panels back in August 2014, but the company later changed its focus to wearable and VR panels. AUO production capacity is relatively low at its AFPD Gen-4.5 LTPS fab in Singapore, but we now hear reports that AUO's yields have been improving.

In fact AUO has managed to lower the prices of its AMOLED displays, and has now resumed production and sale of smartphone sized OLEDs, especially its 4.97" 720p (1280x720) on-cell touch AMOLED.

LG started shipping the 65" Signature Wallpaper OLED W in the US recently. The price of LG's flagship TV is $7,999 (the 77" will cost $19,999 and will launch later this year). Value Electronics in New York now has one such on display, and the company sent us the following photos and video showing the display in action.

We also discussed the installation and quality of the new TV. Robert Zohn from VE says that the TV wall mounts very easily and the connection is done via the low-voltage control cable which is placed inside the wall. The cable is then connected to the I/O box (which LG calls the AIO box). This creates the beautiful look as the TV has no visible connections and is virtually attached on the wall with a very thin profile.

In January 2017 Kopin unveiled its first OLED microdisplay, the 1-inch 120 Hz 2k x 2k Lightning panel. Kopin now announced that the reaction to the Lightning OLED micro display was "overwhelming", with many experts in the VR space commenting that it was the most beautiful VR image they had seen.

Kopin also revealed that it is developing a VR headset in collaboration with Goertek - a mobile VR headset that uses the Lightning OLED microdisplay.

Flexible displays are exciting - giving device makers the freedom of design can potentially unlock new applications and put displays where they haven't been seen before. Flexible displays, made on plastic substrates, are also thinner, lighter and more durable.

Following years of research, in 2013 both Samsung Display and LG Display finally started producing flexible OLEDs on plastic substrates. Since then Samsung has taken the clear lead, but LGD has some ambitious plans of its own. Other display makers are also aiming to start making such panels soon. This article will detail current AMOLED production capabilities, future production plans and market forecasts.