TCL CSOT - Page 4

TCL (CSoT) announced that the company has finalized the development of several new OLED technologies, which has been deployed at the company's production lines.

The first technology is LTPO, or Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide, an OLED backplane technology developed originally by Apple. LTPO enables variable refresh rates, and TCL's technology can support a wide range of frequencies, from 1Hz to 144Hz.

According to reports from China, TCL's CSoT has finished developing its polarizer-free OLED technology (PLP) as it gets ready to adapt its T4 production line in Wuhan to produce PLP LTPO AMOLED displays.

At DisplayWeek 2022, TCL demonstrated 8" 360-degree foldable PLP-LTPO OLEDs prototypes. PLP technology is especially useful in foldable displays thanks to their thin form factor. The company says that it will soon have a capacity of 15,000 monthly 6-Gen PLP-LTPO substrates at the T4 line.

Last year Samsung Electronics started to adopt AMOLED displays produced by BOE and TCL, as the Korean smartphone makers aims to lower costs and reduce its reliance on Samsung Display.

According to a report from Korea, the company plans to increase these China-produced OLED orders from around 800,000 in 2021 to around 6.5 million in 2022. It seems the main device to adopt these panels will be the Samsung Galaxy A73.

TCL subsidiary CSoT is, according to report from Korea, interested in becoming an AMOLED panel supplier for Apple's iPhones.

CSoT has shipped sample panels to Apple, produced at its T4 OLED fab in Wuhan. If Apple's review is positive, CSoT will invest in a demo line for Apple, implementing new technologies required by Apple.

Yesterday we reported that during its DTC 2021 conference, TCL demonstrated a 65" inkjet-printed 8K OLED panel co-developed by TCL's CSoT and JOLED. During the conference, the company also unveiled another panel a rollable OLED.

This is a 14" inkjet printed OLED panel, produced using an inkjet printing process.

According to a report from China, TCL demonstrated 65" 8K OLED panel, produced using an inkjet printing process. This display was co-developed by TCL's CSoT and JOLED.

Last year it was reported that TCL's CSoT is building a $6.8 billion 8.5-Gen inkjet printing line in Guangzhou (the T8 line), with production expected to begin in 2023.

As demand for larger mobile OLED displays, for laptops, tablets and monitors is on the rise, there are reports that Samsung Display is considering building a 8.5-Gen AMOLED fab dedicated for laptop and IT displays. SDC is developing technologies to overcome the limitation in OLED deposition.

According to a new report from Korea, China's BOE and CSoT are both looking to also establish 8-Gen OLED production lines. BOE is accelerating its plans for a 2200x2500 (8-Gen) OLED deposition line, and is developing deposition technologies towards that goal. BOE's main target is to produce smartphone OLED displays, which it hopes to supply to Apple.

DSCC says that inkjet printing technologies for OLED display production is finally starting to gain traction, and the company sees IJP OLED display capacity to increase in a 137% CAGR from 2020 to 2025, to reach 7.1 million sqm.

As you can see from the chart, most of the growth will come from the printing of the quantum-dots color conversion layers in Samsung's QD-OLED fabs. Actual RGB inkjet printing will be confined to JOLED's fab which will start mass producing in 2021. In 2024, China Star (CSoT) will begin printing OLED TV panels at its T8 line.

DSCC says that OLED production will grow 94% in the Q2 2021, fueled by strong demand for OLED in smartphones, TVs and other devices - coupled with a recovery from the pandemic. Growth in OLED input area for small & medium displays is expected to grow 68%, while grow in OLED TV input area will grow by 134% over last year.

The chart above shows the total OLED (and mobile LCD) industry capacity. As you can see, flexible OLED capacity is growing - mainly from expansions by CSoT, Tianma and Visionox. There's also growth in rigid OLED capacity - from Everdisplay and JOLED.

Chinese smartphone producer TCL unveiled an interesting new smartphone prototype (concept?) called the Fold ‘n’ Roll.

As you can see in the video, the device has a 6.87-inch OLED display when fully folded. It can open up (out-folding) into a 8.85-inch display, and then it can open even further to a 10-inch tablet-like device using a rolling mechanism. The display itself is produced by TCL's CSoT subsidiary.