Sharp introduced a new phone in Japan, called the AQUOS R6, which features a 6.67-inch 2730x1260 1Hz-240Hz dynamic refresh rate IGZO AMOLED display.

This is an interesting development. Sharp started producing flexible OLEDs for its own devices in low volume in August 2018, but has since ceased production later in 2019. This is the first time we hear of an IGZO mobile AMOLED display, and it is likely that Sharp produces these in-house.

Chinese OLED producer Visionox demonstrates several new OLED technologies at SID Displayweek 2021. We'll list some of these new achievements in this post, and you can see these in the video below.

Visionox shows a 'dynamic' 12.3-inch rollable display which feature a 5 mm rolling radius. A 7.92" foldable (2 mm radius) wrap-around display solution. Visionox also demonstrates a 12.3" three-folded OLED that can fold inwards (2.5 mm radius) or outwards (6.5 mm) - to become a 5.4-inch display.

Samsung Display is unveiling new OLED technologies today at SID Displayweek 2021. The video below shows all the new displays:

First up we have a tri-foldable AMOLED display shown with a smartphone prototype. The display can be folded twice inside and outside, and when fully open the display is 7.2-inch in size.

Last year at SID Displayweek 2020 LG Display unveiled a new OLED microdisplay, branded as OLEDoS. LGD's display was a 0.42" 1280x720 (3,500 PPI) panel that uses a color-filter based design.

This year at Displayweek 2021, LGD is showing the same display again, this time it reveals it has a brightness of over 5,000 nits (in 2020 the company said the brightness was "over 4,000 nits"). LG says that OLED microdisplays will find a market in VR and AR applications, as the displays outperform mobile AMOLED displays.

LG Display's current production capacity at its 8.5-Gen OLED TV line in Guangzhou is 60,000 monthly substrates. According to a new report from Korea, the company is now expanding the capacity to 90,000 monthly substrates.

The expansion project will be ready by July 2021. In fact the company planned this expansion many years ago, and most of the equipment has already been planned to handle the extra capacity and LG managed to shorten the production time for each substrate (Takt time).

The South Korean government launched a new project which aims to develop new technology that will enable the production of Oxide-TFT that support 1,000 PPI OLED panels. The project, led by Samsung Display, will hopefully conclude by 2024.

Samsung plans to develop higher-efficiency Oxide-TFTs - in fact ten times faster than today's Oxide-TFTs. The new technologies will reduce the power consumption and production costs of the TFTs.

Samsung Display announced that certification company SGS has certified its laptop OLED for gaming performance. According to SGS, the new Samsung Display OLED displays showed blur length below 1.4mm and moving picture response time below 15.4ms.

Samsung says that an LCD laptop with identical specifications showed a maximum 2.1mm blur length and 26.4ms moving picture response time. Samsung OLED's HDR contrast ratio resulted in over 1,000,000:1 according to SGS.

Omdia estimates that over 22,000 units of large-area (at least 80-inch) OLED TVs will ship in 2021, up from 900 units in 2020. OLED TVs ranging from 70- to 79-inch will also hit a record sales volume of 325,700 units, up 70% from 2020 (which saw a 245% increase in 70- to 79-inch OLED sales).

According to Omdia, in 2020 sales of 60- to 69-inch OLED TVs exceeded that of 50- to 59-inch ones for the first time, and in 2021 Omdia expects this trend to continue and even expand.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q1 2021. Revenues were $6.8 million up from $6.7 in Q1 2020. Operating loss was $2 million, up from $1.3 million in Q1 2020. Net loss was $7.4 million (including a $7.2 million warrant value loss).

At the end of March 31 2021, the company had $10.7 million in cash and equivalents. eMagin reports it is continuing to place down payments for equipment as part of the $39.1 million US government funds that were awarded last year to enhance its manufacturing capabilities in the US.

DSCC has lowered its OLED equipment spending estimate and forecast. DSCC is saying this is due to low OLED utilization rates in China's lower-tiered producers, delays in OLED TV production plans in China as companies are focusing on LCDs due to increase demand - and also new technologies such as mini-LEDs.

DSCC sees OLED equipment spending falling in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and surging back in 2025. Total 2020-2025 OLED equipment spending on an install basis is expected to to be $49 billion.