October 2020

Universal Display reported its Q3 2020 financial results, with revenues of $117 million (up from $58 million in Q2 2020 and $98 million in Q3 2019, and a net income of $40.5 million. UDC ended the quarter with with $673 million in cash and equivalents

UDC reports a significant pickup in customer orders in the third quarter, and the company expects full-year 2020 revenues to be in the range of $385 million to $400 million. UDC sees meaningful growth in the OLED industry in 2021 and beyond.

TCL's CSoT demonstrated some interesting new displays at the DTC 2020 conference a few days ago - including rollable OLEDs, foldable OLEDs, ink-jet printed rollable OLEDs and new microLED prototypes.

In the video above, you can first see the company's latest inkjet-printed rollable OLED, with a size of 17-inch. CSoT says that it managed to reduce the OLED thickness by removing the color filters it used in earlier designs, which improves the flexibility - as you can see this display rolls up very nicely.

Last month we reported that Merck is expanding its OLED laboratories in Shanghai. Today Merck released a formal PR and details its latest plans in Asia.

Merck says that it will invest 26 million Euro ($23.6 million USD) to expand its OLED manufacturing capacities at the Pyeongtaek (Korea) and Shanghai sites.

China-based OLED maker Visionox posted its Q3 2020 financial results, with a net loss of $17.7 million, down from $35 million in Q3 2019. Demand for Visionox's AMOLED displays is on the rise, while demand for LCD displays (which Visionox does not produce) is down in China.

In the video above you can see Visionox's latest foldable, wrap-around, rollable and flexible panels, in several configurations, as shown at SID Displayweek 2020. Visionox recently started shipping OLED displays with an under-the-display camera.

Last month it was reported that following the US government sanctions against Huawei, both Samsung Display and LG Display may not be able to sell OLED panels to Huawei any more, as these use drivers that are based on US-developed technology.

Samsung Display has applied to the US government to get an approval to export these OLEDs, and according to new reports from Korea SDC has obtained the approval. According to the report, the US agreed to this sale as Huawei is also buying OLED displays from Chinese-based producers which means that this is not a required import for Huawei.

Researchers from Stanford university in collaboration with Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) developed a new OLED structure that enables resolution of up to 10,000 PPI, high brightness and a cost-effective production process.

In the new so-called Metaphotonic OLED structure, the panel is produced on a base layer of reflective metal with nanoscale corrugations. This 'metasurface' can manipulate the reflective properties of light and thereby allow different colors to resonate in the OLED sub-pixels.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q3 2020, with a net profit (of $9.8 million) - which was the company's first profitable quarter since 2018. Revenues in the quarter were $5.9 billion, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 16% from Q3 2019.

LG Display says that its turnaround was due to increased demand for IT displays and OLED displays - both OLED TV panels and flexible OLEDs for smartphones. Profitability was also assisted by the mass production that finally began at LGD's new OLED TV fab in Guangzhou. Next year LGD says it aims to ship over 7 million OLED TV panels.

According to rumors from Japan, Sony is set to supply Apple with OLED Microdisplays for Apple's future AR headset project. The rumors did not include more information than that...

Apple (like all other consumer electronics giants) is very active with AR R&D, as many believe that AR headsets will be very popular in the future and may replace smartphones. While I'm a bit skeptical about this technology, it is evident that many companies are increasing their R&D efforts in this field.

LG Display announced a 3-year OLED technology partnership with The Walt Disney Studios’ StudioLAB, to "create exceptional viewing experiences".

LG Display will provide StudioLAB with access to its latest OLED technology advancements, and together the two companies will work on a variety of projects to equip Walt Disney Studios filmmakers with new production tools and provide consumers with fun, interactive and immersive experiences tied to the Studios’ film releases.

Market research company DSCC updates its WOLED TV production cost estimates and forecasts. DSCC says that LG is improving the production at its 8.5-Gen production line in Guangzhou and by next year the cost of production in China will be lower than comparable production in Korea - by about 15%. One meaningful technology adopted in China is MMG which enables around 20% cost reduction.

DSCC also estimates that while MiniLED TVs are cheaper to produce compared to OLEDs, the gap is less than 10%, which means that retail prices of MiniLEDs will be pretty much the same as the retail prices of OLED TVs.