February 2022

Solid-state haptic developer Tanvas has collaboration with a "leading display maker" to produce a prototype flexible AMOLED display that incorporates the company's TanvasTouch haptic layer, which provides tactile textures and haptic effects.

Tanvas explains that its surface haptic technology uses proprietary haptic technology to enable tactile textures and effects to be felt as the fingers swipe across the surface of the display. Unlike traditional vibration-based haptics that require actuators to move mass, TanvasTouch is a solid-state solution that can provide different haptic effects simultaneously in multiple zones on the same surface.

Towards the end of 2021, it was reported that Visionox has finalized its LTPO R&D project and is ready to start producing LTPO OLED displays. The company now officially launched its first LTPO AMOLED dipslay, that can offer a dynamic refresh rate, from 1Hz to 120Hz. Visionox expects the first phones to adopt these new displays to be released soon.

The new LTPO AMOLED displays are produced at Visionox's Hefei 6-Gen flexible AMOLED line. This is the first LTPO OLED displays produced in China (previously only Samsung and LG produced such advanced panels).

Universal Display reported its financial results for Q4 2021. Revenues for the quarter were $146 million, while net income was $46 million

UDC's 2021 revenues were a record high of $554 million, with a net profit of $184 million. UDC expects the OLED industry to continue to grow in 2022, and the company believes its revenues in 2022 will be between $625 million to $650 million (an increase of 12% - 17%).

BOE demonstrated new foldable OLED prototypes, which it calls the f-OLED N-shaped folding display. The new displays by BOE can be folded both inwardly and outwardly, which allows BOE to present a unique form factor:

BOE's new display is 12.3" in size, and when full folded (two folds) it turns into a 5.6-inch form-factor device. BOE developed a novel hinge system that allows for sliding compensation which improves the strength of the display module. BOE tested the new display for up to 200,000 inward folding cycles and 100,000 outward folding cycles.

According to reports from Korea, Samsung decided to use the same OLED material stack (the so-called M11 stack) in its Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone (the M11 was used in the S21 Ultra phone). The lower-end Galaxy S21 still uses the M10 stack, same as in the S20.

The lower-end model did get an update - the S22 Plus has been upgraded to the M11 stack (the S21 Plus used the M10 stack).

Market research firm Omdia says that LG Electronics shipped over 4 million OLED TVs in 2021, more than double its shipments in 2020. In the fourth quarter alone, LGE shipped 1.41 million OLED TVs.

Omdia expects LG to double its shipments again in 2022 and reach sales of over 8 million TVs. The total OLED TV market, according to Omdia, was 6.5 million OLED TVs in 2021 (LGE holds a 62% market share).

Notion Systems, a leading solution provider for industrial inkjet systems, announced that it had successfully installed an n.jet display system at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The n.jet display system was developed in collaboration with MBRAUN/Germany and includes a fully integrated inert glove box solution that combines compact design with minimized nitrogen consumption.

ITRI is now using the new n.jet display system to research and develop novel OLED and QLED technologies. ITRI has developed many OLED technologies over the years, and it is now looking to replace vapor deposition and vacuum coating with inkjet printing which could reduce the number of steps, increase material utilization and increase display quality.

IDC estimates that 7.1 million foldable smartphones shipped in 2021, an increase of 264% over 2020 (1.9 million units). IDC estimates that the market will grow to 27.6 million units by 2025 (a CAGR of 69.9%).

Most of the growth in 2021 came from Samsung's Galaxy Flip3 which was a success in the market thanks to its compact size and price tag ($999).

China-based Tianma announced that it has started producing flexible AMOLED displays at its 6-Gen production line in Xiamen. This is just the first production runs, it will probably take some time for Tianma to ramp up production.

Total investment in Tianma's new fab (TM18) is estimated at $6.8 billion USD and the monthly capacity will be 48,000 6-Gen substrates. The company says that this is the largest flexible AMOLED production line in China, and it is also the largest ever investment in Xiamen's history.

Magnachip announced that it has started mass-producing OLED display driver integrated circuit (OLED DDIC) for OLED TVs.

Magnachip says that its new DDIC supports a maximum of 960 source output channels and can be coupled with a Chip On Film (COF) package and a high-speed serial interface. The new driver is based on enhanced high-voltage analog process technology. The chips supports various resolutions between HD (1,366 x 768) and UHD 4K (3,840 x 2,160), and can support panel sizes ranging from 40 to 80 inches.