October 2017

In February 2017 Universal Display announced that the company will invest $15 million in PPG Industries' OLED facility in Barberton, Ohio. PPG will double its commercial production capacity of UDC's phosphorescent OLED emitter materials. The capacity expansion was scheduled to be completed in the third quarter 2017, and indeed today UDC announced that the expansion project is complete.

PPG Industries and UDC established a strategic relationship in 2000, and PPG is the exclusive producer of UDC's PHOLED emitter materials. In 2013, the two companies opened this OLED production plant in Barbertron as demand for OLED materials increased.

Apple has not started shipping its much anticipated OLED iPhone X, but a reporter at the Wired received an early unit and has posted a review after a week of using this new device. There's a lot to like in Apple's new flagship phones - a great form factor, great cameras, fun animoji's and a large potential. Besides being expensive, the reporter also complains about Face ID problems and says that the phone and it's black "notch" at the top is an "aesthetic setback".

The reviews is very happy with the OLED display - as it covers almost the entire phone, the iPhone X has a large display (5.8" 1125x2436 flexible Super AMOLED) in a relatively compact form factor. It's only slightly bigger than the iPhone 8 while it has a display that's almost the same size as the one in the iPhone 8+. The display quality itself is excellent - "I found the display a noticeable, and greatly pleasurable, advance over my iPhone 7, whether watching The Big Sick, streaming a live football game, or simply swiping through Instagram".

LG Display announced that it has shipped over 200,000 OLED TV panels in September, over double the volume compared to September 2016. LGD is seeing high demand for its OLED TV panels, mostly from LG Electronics and Sony.

LGD expects OLED shipments to reach 210,00 units in November 2017. The company aims to produce 1.7 million OLED TV panels in 2017, and as new capacity comes on line the shipments in 2018 will reach 2.5 million panels.

Samsung reported its final financial results for Q3 2017 - this was a great quarter for Samsung as revenues reached 62 trillion Won (around $55 billion) and operation profits rose 15% from last quarter to reach 14.5 trillion Won (around $12.8 billion USD). Samsung expects next year earnings to grow mainly from its component business, with the memory market likely to remain favorable.

Samsung Display reported increased revenues, mostly due to strong sales of flexible OLEDs, but earnings declines as average sale price of its LCD displays declined and the investments in new OLED capacity. Specifically regarding its OLED business, SDC increased its sales of flexible OLEDs, but prices of rigid OLED panels declined.

Last week BOE Display held an official ceremony during which it demonstrated its first batch of flexible OLED panels made at its new B7 6-Gen OLED fab in Chengdu. China Daily posted the video you see below showing the panels on display.

At the video you can see a foldable AMOLED prototype, a flexible display in an edge-type design, a design that seems similar to the one used in Apple's iPhone X and finally several curved OLED prototypes.

eMagin announced its BlazeTorch consumer sports enthusiast OLED night-vision goggles back in November 2016, with aims to release it by the end of 2017 for $999. According to the very-enthusiastic review below, the BlazeTorch is excellent - but eMagin hiked the price up to $1,699.

The BlazeTorch started shipping in 2017, although it is no longer available. The Price was supposed to be $999 but some reports suggest eMagin is increasing the price to $1,699. Hopefully eMagin will start shipping it again and we will update if and when they do.

During a press event in the UK, LG Display said that OLED technology holds 25% of the premium TV market in Europe. The company defines this market as TVs sold over 1,300 Euro. The market share in Benelux and Italy is 35% and in the UK it is 31%.

LGD also detailed its product roadmap. All of its OLED TVs in 2017 support 4K, and the company hopes to add 8K support in 2019 - when it will also release 80" OLEDs.

In July 2017 LG Display announced that it has decided to build a 8.5-Gen (2200x2500) OLED line in Guangzhou, China, to make OLED TV panels. This is the first time a Korean company plans to produce OLEDs outside of Korea, and the Korean government is still considering whether to approve this plan as it sees OLED as a strategic technology Korea' economy.

Beyond lower-wages in China compared to Korea and the proximity to the huge Chinese market, LG is looking for a subsidy from the local government. LG Display's Guangzhou OLED line is supposed to be a joint-venture with the local government, where LGD will hold a 70% share.

E Ink, the most (and pretty much only) e-paper technology, has been used for years as the display of choice for e-readers. Following the stagnation of the e-reader market, E Ink Holding is struggling to find more application for its e-Paper displays, with initial success in electronic shelf labels and signage applications.

Low-power digital display solution provider Visionect has developed a conference room management system based on E Ink displays, which they call the JOAN meeting room scheduling solution. This is a wireless and battery-powered device that is easily installed (no cables required) and that provides a beautiful and useful solution.

A few days ago we reported that BOE started to produce flexible OLED displays at its Chengdu B7 fab, and yesterday the company held an official ceremony during which it demonstrated its first batch of flexible OLED panels, and delivered samples to representatives from Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and others Chinese phone makers - although its not clear whether any of these are already acquiring panels.

The first panels produced by BOE are 5.5" in size with a resolution of 1440x2560 (QHD) - these are smartphone panels that will be adopted in an edge-type configuration. BOE says that its production line is highly automated, and BOE's panels come with a touch layer already laminated. The whole panel is just 0.03 mm thick.