Counterpoint Research estimates that OLED smartphone sales will reach 600 million units next year, as phone makers adopt OLED displays in more mid-range and low-end devices.
Counterpoint says that OLED penetration in Samsung devices will surge from 45% in 2019 to 71% in 2020. Both Apple and Oppo will use OLED displays in 50% of their phones next year.
According to a new report in Korea, LG Display is delaying its P10 10.5-Gen OLED TV fab plans. The company's original plan was to start mass production (with 30,000 monthly substrate) in H1 2022, but the date now shifted to 2023.
The report says that LG Display notified one of its main equipment suppliers, YAS, that it is delaying its plans. Other main suppliers for the P10 fab include Applied Materials and Jusung Engineering.
Kopin Corporation announced the development of a new OLED microdisplay - a 1.3" 2560x2560 (so-called 2.6K) panel aimed towards next-generation AR/VR/XR applications. This joins Kopin's current OLED microdisplays - the 0.49" 1280x720 panel and the 1-inch 120 Hz 2k x 2k Lightning panel introduced in January 2017.
Kopin 1" 2k x 2k OLED Lightning microdisplay
Kopin, who is a fabless OLED panel maker, began production of its OLED displays with its partner OLiGHTEK in Q2 2018.
In March 2017 OLED maker BOE Technology and OLED microdisplay maker OLiGHTEK announced a new $170 million joint-venture to produce OLED microdisplays for the consumer VR and AR markets
Once complete, BOE's fab will have the largest capacity in the industry - but this is not enough for BOE. Yesterday it was reported in Chinese media that BOE plans to build a second, larger OLED microdisplay fab in Yunnan. BOE will invest $257 million while a state-owned development group will invest $28 million. BOE will also raise $200 million from external sources. Total investment in the new fab will total $486 million.
In October 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. SDC was supposed to start the plan in 2019, but according to a report from China the Company is delaying its initial investment. Originally mass production was supposed to begin in Q1 2021, but this may happen later if the investment is delayed.
It seems as if equipment makers expected to receive orders for production equipment, but that did not happen. The report says that Samsung decided to make personnel changes and transfer in January 2020 and only after these changes will the company finalize its investment plan in the new OLED TV fab.
2019 is soon over - and this has been an interesting year for the OLED industry. OLED displays are taking over the display market, foldable displays are finally here, and it seems as if investments in OLED capacity is resuming - or at least set to resume next year.
Here are the top 10 stories posted on OLED-Info in 2019, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):
On August 2019 LG Display announced today that it started producing OLED TV panels at its 8.5-Gen OLED fab in Guangzhou, China. But in October it was reported that LGD's yields at the new fab were still low (50-60%) and mass production did not start as planned.
A new report from Korea suggests that LGD still did not manage to stabilize the new fab, and mass production is now delayed to after the first quarter of 2020. LGD's original plans were to produce around 5.5 million OLED in 2020, but that plan assumed the Guangzhou fab will be in full production rate by the end of 2019. LGD already lowered its 2019 OLED TV production capacity due to the Guangzhou delay.
TADF, or Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence, is a relatively new class of OLED emitter materials that promise efficient and long-lifetime performance without any heavy metals. TADF research started at around 2012, originally at Kyushu University in Japan and today many academic groups and several commercial companies are developing TADF materials.
The main reason companies are interested in TADF emission is that it could lead to an efficient and long-lasting blue OLED emitter - something that hasn't been yet achieved by other means (mainly - UDC's Phosphorescent OLED emitter technology). In recent years companies initiated commercial development of red, green and yellow TADF emitters as these can offer a lower cost alternative to UDC's PHOLEDs materials.
IHS Markit says that smartphone AMOLED shipments reached 146 million in Q3 2019 - a record high, and up from 93 million in the second quarter. LTPS LCD shipments reached 144 million - and this is the first quarter in which AMOLED shipments surpassed LTPS LCD shipments. a-SI LCD is still the leading technology with shipments of 177 million.
Following the increased demand for AMOLED displays, Samsung Display regained its leading position in the market (with a 29% market share), replacing BOE. The third largest suppler is Tianma.
New images were leaked on Chinese media, showing a new foldable phone design - that is reportedly made by Samsung. This could be the company's upcoming second foldable phone (the Galaxy Fold 2 perhaps?).
The design looks somewhat similar to the clamshell Motorola Razr 2019 - but in Samsung's design (if this is indeed a Samsung phone) there is only a very small external display for notifications - which looks to be a white PMOLED.
