Universal Display Corporation has announced several times that it is progressing with its blue PHOLED material development, and it is on track to release the first commercial material by the end of 2024. In November 2023 we reported that UBI estimates that Samsung has delayed the adoption of a blue PHOLED to the second half of 2025.
Now there's a new report in Korea that claims that UDC's blue PHOLED project is facing technical challenges, and UDC is still not able to achieve a long-lasting blue emitter at the right color point. It will be interesting to know whether UDC addresses this issue in its next investor conference call (May 2nd).
The report isn't clear on whether UDC will delay the introduction, or whether the first introduced material will offer a limited lifespan - which could be okay for some display application, but not for all. According to UBI, the expected lifespan of UDC's first-gen blue PHOLED will be around 40% lower compared to the currently-used fluorescent blue emitters.
Disclaimer: the author of this post holds shares in Universal Display
Lower lifetime implies that this emitter/system is bound for either lower brightness displays, or displays with lower expected use times where power efficiency is key. This sounds to me like low to mid-range smartphone displays where high brightnesses aren't expected.