AUO demonstrates a 1.3" circular plastic-based flexible AMOLED prototype
AU Optronics demonstrated a new 1.3" Full-circle plastic-based flexible AMOLED panel. The panel features a resolution of 320x320 (257 PPI) and a brightness of 320 cd/m2. The whole panel is less than 0.25 mm thick.
It's not clear how close is this panel for commercialization. AUO recently shifted its focus to wearable OLEDs, and has launched a circular 1.4" glass-based AMOLED display.
AUO's 1.4" circular AMOLED now in production, shows new OLED and LCD prototypes
AU Optronics says that their 1.4" circular AMOLED display is now in mass production. The company already said before it was qualified by a Tier-1 Chinese customer - which could mean Huawei with their circular 1.4" AMOLED smartwatch. AUO also demonstrated a new 1.3" circular flexible AMOLED on a plastic substrate that is only 0.25 mm thick.
Interestingly, AUO is also developing flexible LCDs. The company demonstrated a 3.5" flexible LCD (shown below) that is based on a plastic substrate - and has a curvature of 44 mm.
AUO demonstrates a RGBY AMOLED, says it decreases power consumption by 16%
Researchers from AU Optronics developed an AMOLED display that uses four primary colors (Red, Green, Blue and Yellow). They say that this design is more efficient than an RGB panel by 16%. The AMOLED panel is 4.65" 720p (317 PPI).
RGBY has been used by Sharp for their Quattron LCD displays (Aquos TVs) for a long time. Sharp says that adding another color increases the range of displayable colors (although the content itself does not provide the yellow color information, which means the TVs need to use software processes which results in less accurate colors).
AUO shifts OLED focus to wearables, will ship the circular 1.4" AMOLED in Q2
Taiwan's AU Optronics reported their financial results for Q2 2014, and during the company's conference call they discussed the AMOLED program. AUO seems to be shifting its OLED focus from smartphone displays to wearables.
The company updated that the new 1.4" circular AMOLED display will ship in Q2 2015. They say it was qualified by a Tier-1 Chinese customer. This could mean Huawei - which launched a circular 1.4" AMOLED smartwatch that will indeed ship in Q2 (although the display at Huawei's Watch could also be made by EDO, we're not sure yet).
AUO starts to mass produce 5.46" FHD AMOLED panels
According to our information Taiwan's AU Optronics started to mass produce 5.46" Full-HD AMOLED panels, aimed for smartphone applications. AUO is already producing 1.63", 4.3" and 5" AMOLED displays. AUO is also developing a 1.4" circular AMOLED display.
AUO 5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED prototype
It's great to see AU Optronics stepping up its AMOLED involvement, even though the company's current production capacity at its AFPD Gen-4.5 LTPS fab in Singapore is quite limited.
AUO develops a 1.4" circular AMOLED display
Taiwan's AU Optronics developed a new 1.4" circular AMOLED display, aimed for smart watches. AUO did not disclose the resolution of this display. AUO will be the second circular OLED maker - LG Display is currently producing 1.3" (320x320) circular plastic based AMOLED displays, used in their G Watch R smartphone.
AUO has been struggling with AMOLED production for years, but finally in August 2014 the company started mass production. The company currently offers four panels. Please contact us if you want to find a supplier for these OLEDs:
ASUS AMOLED Smartwatch to launch in the US tomorrow
ASUS announced that its AMOLED ZenWatch will launch in the US tomorrow (November 9th) for $199 via Best Buy. The Android Wear smartwatch will also be available through Google Play later on.
The ZenWatch features a 1.63" 320x320 AMOLED display, a 1.2 Ghz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, heart rate sensor and a battery that should last over a day. According to my information, the AMOLED is made by AU Optronics - and this will be the first commercial product to use an AMOLED by AUO in years.
Barry Young from the OLED Association gives us his views on the OLED market
Several OLED markets are heating up - OLED TVs, Flexible OLEDs, wearables, OLED lighting, the automotive market... Barry Young from the OLED Association, one of the world's top OLED experts, was kind enough to offer his views and opinion on the OLED market.
Q: What is your expectation from the OLED TV market in the next 1-3 years? Will LG be the only player (and if so what will be their capacity) or will Samsung and perhaps other enters the market too?
LG chose to implement the metal oxide/White OLED approach and has succeeded, where Samsung’s choice of LTPS/Small Mask Scanning (SMS) has proven too expensive to pursue even with ~80% yields.
AUO to focus on flexible OLEDs, shows a 5" curved AMOLED panel prototype
Last month during a trade show, AU Optronics had several AMOLED panel on display, including the 1.63" 320x320 and 5" 720p ones currently in mass production. AUO also showed the 5" 720p flexible AMOLED shown below and a 5.7" WQHD panel.
According to OLEDNET, AUO is now focusing on flexible AMOLEDs, and the company will drive more resources towards developing flexible panels in 2015.
Asus announces an AMOLED smartwatch, display likely made by AUO
Asus announced their first Smart Watch - The ZenWatch. This is an Android Wear smart watch that features a 1.63" 320x320 AMOLED display, a 1.2 Ghz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a battery that should last over a day. It also features a heart rate sensor.
According to my sources, the AMOLED supplier is not Samsung Display (even though they also produce a 1.63" 320x320 OLED) but AU Optronics. If true this is the first commercial product that uses an AMOLED from AU Optronics (well, actually in 2006 AUO produced 2" AMOLEDs, but they stopped production shortly after and only resumed it in 2014).
