According to ETNews, LGD is increasing the share of 65" OLED TV panels in production. In Q3 2017 LGD produced 65% 55-inch panels and 35% 65-inch panels, but in November 65-inch panels shipments surpassed those of 55-inch panels.
This trend is expected to continue in 2018, and LGD is also ramping up production of 77-inch panels.
Japan-based Zeon Corporation is expanding its ZeonorFilm production capacity as demand from OLED display makers increases. Zeon says it will invest several tens of billions of Yen (tens of millions of USD) to add a sixth production line in its Toyama factory for its films.
ZeonorFilm is a flexible retardation film that enables low-reflectance with improved contrast used for both OLED TVs and mobile OLED displays.
During an OLED display Seminar in Korea, UniJet's CEO Kim Seok-Soon said that new advances in Ink-Jet printing technologies could enable displays that are over 500 PPI - and so make printing a viable technology to produce small and medium-sized OLED panels.
Kim says that current ink-jet printing processes can reach to to 150 or 200 PPI, which is good enough for TV production (enough for a 8K 55" panel in fact) but not good enough for small sized displays. However current laser-droplet measurement processes could enable discharge control of less than 0.1 μm and a volume accuracy of less than 0.1% - enough to reach 550 PPI. Kim estimates that such technologies could be ready for mass production lines by 2020.
Display measurement experts DisplayMate posted a review of LG's latest OLED TVs, specifically a 65" OLEDE7 model. DisplayMate performed an extensive set of tests and LG's OLED performed exceptionally well throughout all of the Lab Measurement Tests and Viewing Tests. DisplayMate says that "it is unquestionably the best performing TV that we have ever tested or watched".
LG's 2017 OLED TV is "visually Indistinguishable from perfect" and it breaks many TV display performance records. It is far better than the best Plasma TVs ever tested and is even better than the $50,000 Sony Professional CRT reference studio monitors that up until recently were the golden standard for picture quality, according to DisplayMate.
Analysts from CLSA returned from a journey to Asia with some interesting notes on the OLED industry. According to CLSA, spending in the OLED industry has peaked and OLED producers are not expecting to place any new equipment orders in the near future. This coincides with IHS estimates of over supply in the flexible OLED market in 2018.
According to CLSA, Samsung has a current capacity in its A3 and A4 (which should be ready by Q2 2018) OLED fabs to produce about 330-385 million OLED displays per year (11 lines, each about 15,000 monthly substrates) which SDC expects to be enough to satisfy Apple's and Samsung Electronics' demand. SDC does not see a strong demand from China's smartphone makers, surprisingly, due to the high cost of OLED displays. Without demand for larger displays (tablets/laptops) or perhaps for foldable devices, SDC's seem to be content with its current OLED capacity.
UBI Research estimates that in 2019 Flexible OLED shipments will reach 480 million units, overtaking rigid OLED shipments (409 million in 2019) for the first time. In a somewhat confusing PR, UBI seem to suggest that flexible OLED shipments will grow at a CAGR of 41% to reach 1.285 billion units (and $59.4 billion in revenues) in 2022.
UBI also provides information on two specific market segments. Full-screen flexible OLED shipments will reach 265 million units in 2018 (a market-share of 82.1% of all flexible OLEDs). Full-screen OLED domination will continue in the future and in 2022 over a billion such displays will ship (market share of 79.5%).
Universal Display announced today that Royole has signed an OLED evaluation agreement. UDC will collaborate with Royole and supply its proprietary UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED materials and technology for Royole’s display applications.
UDC did not disclose any more details or the financial terms of the agreement. Royole is constructing a 5.5-Gen (Royole calls it a Quasi-6-Gen) flexible OLED production facility in Shenzhen, China. The new fab is scheduled to begin operation in 2018 and will have a monthly capacity of 45,000 substrates.
Synaptics unveiled a new fingerprint sensor called Clear ID that can be placed under the OLED display of a smartphone and can be used to unlock a device in under seven milliseconds - on par with regular fingerprint sensors.
The Clear ID sensor can be placed under any part of the OLED screen (which will have to direct the user to place the fingerprint in the right location). Clear ID works with both rigid and flexible OLEDs - and can even work underwater and on displays that are covered with a screen protector.
AU Optronics launched a new round AMOLED for smartwatches and other applications. This panel is 1.2" in diameter (33.22 x 34.72 mm in size) with a high resolution (390x390, 460 PPI). Click here for more information on this new panel.
Let us know if you are interested in obtaining AUO's latest AMOLED panel, or browse for other OLEDs at our extensive OLED catalog.
Universal Display announced that it has signed long-term OLED agreements with BOE Technology Group. Under these agreements, UDC will supply phosphorescent OLED materials to BOE. UDC and BOE signed their first agreement in 2014 and it is great to see these evolve into long-term agreements.
BOE started to produce flexible OLED displays at its Chengdu B7 6-Gen fab in October 2017. BOE's B7 fab is the company's first flexible AMOLED line and actual real mass production will probably begin at about Q1 2018. The full capacity is 48,000 substrates per month, but this will only be achieved in the first half of 2019.
