BOE Display - Page 25

According to ETNews, Skyworth recently introduced an OLED TV that uses panels produced by BOE Display. If this is correct, then this is the first TV since 2013 that does not use an LGD OLED panel. According to the report, Skyworth will start shipping these TVs in China and Europe (under the Metz brand) in 2017.

55-inch OLED TV prototypes, BOE 2014

In the past Skyworth used LGD panels for its OLED TVs. In December 2015 the company launched its latest OLED and OLED HDR TVs , and back then Skyworth said it aims to sell 30,000 OLED TVs by the end of March 2016 (the company's FY2015) - and hopes to sell 200,000 OLED TVs by the end of March 2017. Skyworth said its main problem with those OLEDs is that LG Display cannot supply them with enough panels, especially the 65" ones - so now it seems Skyworth found its answer with BOE Display.

BOE Technology announced that it signed a framework agreement with the Miangyang government in Sichaun to establish a Gen-6 (1500 × 1850 mm) flexible AMOLED fab. Total investment in this fab is estimated at 46.5 billion yuan ($6.87 billion USD).

BOE says that the fab's capacity will be 48,000 substrates per month, and it will be used to produce small to medium sized flexible OLEDs, mainly for mobile phones. BOE aims to start construction in the second quarter of 2017 and mass production will begin in 2019.

A few days ago Xiaomi launched a new entry-level smartphone, the Redmi Pro - with a 5.5" FHD AMOLED display. According to a report from China, that AMOLED is produced by two Chinese display makers - EverDisplay (the main supplier) and BOE Display.

Everdisplay (EDO) started mass producing 5" 720p AMOLED displays towards the end of 2014. Since then the company seems to be accelerating its OLED program, and is now offering several displays - including indeed a 5.5" one (EDO also produces and develops smaller AMOLEDs for wearables and larger ones for the automobile market).

ETNews posted an interesting story, in which it is said that Chinese display makers are diverting investments away from LCD production and into flexible OLED production. ETNews lists BOE Display, CSoT, TianMa and Visionox - all bringing forward flexible OLED plans.

Flexible OLED prototype, Tianma

Tianma and Visionox, according to ETNews, already started to make actual investment and placed initial equipment orders for flexible OLED production. BOE and CSoT decided to postpone 8-gen LCD investment plans and will start investing in flexible OLEDs by the end of 2016.

BOE Display had a large booth at SID, and the Chinese company demonstrated several new AMOLED prototypes - including large 10" panels and bendable OLEDs.

So first up we have 4.35" bendable and foldable OLED displays. The bendable panels offer a resolution of 1120x480 (HWVGA, 280 PPI) and a bending radius of 15 mm. The brightness is 350 nits. The color gamut is 100% NTSC. The foldable panels are the same - except the bending radius is much smaller at 5 mm.

Back in 2014 we reported that BOE Display will build a Gen-6 LTPS AMOLED fab in Chengdu, China. The company started working on the new fab in May 2015, and said that the total investment will reach around $3.54 billion.

Today BOE filed a statement today in which they confirm the new fab and disclose that it is going to produce flexible OLEDs. BOE announced an investment cooperation with the Chengdu Municipal Government, and discloses also that the fab will have two lines with a capacity of 24,000 monthly substrates for each line. The new fab is expected to begin mass production in 2017.

Colnatec just told us that a large European customer is building an OLED deposition machine that is headed for China. The machine will adopt Colnatec's temperature-controlled Tempe system.

Colnatec would not reveal much, besides that the substrate size is "larger than anything currently on the market", and the customer ordered a "large number" of Tempe Systems. This is very interesting news, and hopefully we will know more in the future. If this is indeed the largest substrate-size OLED fab ever, it is bound to produce OLED TV panels, and it will be great to finally see competition for LG Display's OLEDs. Of course it may take a couple of years before mass production actually begins.

The OLED Association posted an interesting article, summarizing 2015 and giving its projection for 2016 and onwards. So first of all, they conclude that 2015 was a great year for the OLED display industry, with shipments up 53% over 2014 to reach almost 275 million units. AMOLED Revenues grew to almost $13 billion - up 40% over 2014.

The growth was mostly due to Samsung Display's effort to commercialize flexible OLED displays for mobile phones and the expansion of AMOLED customer beyond Samsung Electronics. LG Display also contributed to the OLED display market, and the OLED association estimates the LG sold over 400,000 OLED TVs. They also say that they shipped around 14,000 flexible OLEDs, but they probably mean around 14 million - as that about makes sense for the Apple Watch.

During the OLED World Summit, an analyst from UBI gave an interesting presentation, showing the company's view of the current status of the OLED TV industry, and their OLED market forecasts for upcoming years.

So first of all, we have LG and Samsung. LGD has obviously been successful in launching WOLED OLED TVs, and scaling up to mass production has been achieved. LG is also hopeful that solution processing will enable them to produce RGB-structured OLEDs efficiently. LG is collaborating with Merck and Espon on printing technologies.

According to ETNews BOE, Everdisplay and Truly are all expected to start constructing flexible OLED fabs in the first half of 2016, as the companies realize they need to compete with Samsung and LG in that market.

BOE Display aimed to start mass producing AMOLED displays at 5.5-Gen LTPS OLED fab in Ordos in the second half of 2015, but reportedly they are still struggling with low yields. BOE is also constructing a Gen-6 LTPS LCD/AMOLED production line in Chengdu, China, scheduled for production in the first half of 2017. Earlier reports suggested that BOE aims to produce flexible OLEDs at that new fab. In May 2015, BOE demonstrate several new AMOLED prototypes, including several flexible panels.