Flexible OLEDs: introduction and market status - Page 30

China-based AMOLED producer EverDisplay has recently demonstrated several flexible AMOLED prototypes at a trade show in China.

First up we the edge-type 5.5" FHD (402 PPI) AMOLED display, with a curvature radius of R6.5. The thickness of this display is 1.61 mm.

Yesterday we reported that BOE unveiled a new 7.6" 2048x1536 foldable (5R bending radius) AMOLED display, and today we have more information and a video that shows this new display.

So the display is 7.56" 2048x1536 (338 PPI) foldable AMOLED, that features a brightness of 380 nits and a color gamut of 100% NTSC. The display is 0.66 mm thick. The video also shows BOE's 6.2" 2992x1440 (537 PPI) notch-type AMOLED and its 13" 8K LCD display.

In October 2017 Taiwan-based Innolux started to produce its first flexible AMOLED display, a round 1.39" 400x400 (287 PPI) panel. This is a great display for wearable applications, mostly smart watches.

The short video above shows this interesting display in action, in our demo kit (which is also available to order).

Digitimes reports that four of China's OLED makers (BOE, Visionox, Tianma and EDO) have stepped up their efforts to develop foldable OLEDs, and have all demonstrated foldable prototypes at the China Information Technology Expo 2018 (CITE 2018).

First up we have Visionox, with its 7.2" foldable panel you can see above. This was already reported last week.

It seems that more and more analysts believe that Apple will eventually release two new OLED iPhone models in 2018. According to the latest report from Korea, Apple is now in talks with Samsung regarding the price of its flexible OLED panels for the smaller 5.8" iPhone Xs 2018 variant.

Samsung's OLED fab utilization rates are low as Apple cut its orders for the iPhone X displays in half. It seems that Apple now aims to take advantage of that and the iPhone maker is asking for a lower price for 2018 OLED panel. The reports suggest that Samsung will supply 100 million OLED panels to Apple in 2018 - 25 million for the 2017 iPhone X and 75 for the 2018 iPhone Xs. The larger (around 6.5") OLED iPhone (iPhone Xs Plus?) will use panels produced by LG Display.

Visionox demonstrated several new flexible OLED prototypes and technologies at a Trade Show in China. First up is the 7.2" foldable AMOLED display you see below. Last month we reported that Visionox developed this display, which can withstand over 200,000 cycles.

Visionox also demonstrated a 3.35" flexible AMOLED, an OLED with an fingerprint sensor under-the-display, a flexible silver-nanowire based touch panel and the company's 6.21" notch-type smartphone display.

Today we published new versions of our market reports - that cover the flexible, transparent, VR/AR, microdisplays, automotive and graphene OLED markets. OLED-Info provides comprehensive niche OLED market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about the niche market, and can be useful if you want to understand how the OLED industry works and what this technology can provide for your own industry. The reports are now updated to April 2018.

The OLED for VR/AR Market Report:

• Why OLEDs are adopted in almost all VR HMDs
• What kind of displays are required for VR and AR applications
• What the future holds for the VR and AR markets
• Current and future VR and AR systems

The report package provides a great introduction to the emerging VR and AR market, and details the role that OLED displays will have. Read more here!

While it's still not clear whether Apple plans to release two new OLED iPhone models in 2018 or just a single one, a new report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple is working on a new design that will use a curved OLED display in its future phones.

According to the report, the display will "curve inward gradually from top to bottom" - so this design will be different then Samsung's popular edge-type phones, maybe something similar to LG's old Flex phones. Bloomberg also says that this technology is "2-3 years away" which is a bit surprising - by then Apple is expected to adopt foldable displays.

Samsung's next flexible OLED line, the 6-Gen A4 line was supposed to be ready by Q2 2018, but according to a new report from Korea Samsung decided to delay the operation in this fab by six months.

The reason, of course, is softer demand from smartphone makers in China and the lower shipments to Apple - which already resulted in the construction delay of Samsung's A5 line.

A few days ago OLEDWorks announces its new OLED lighting series, the Brite 3 OLEDs, which include OLEDWorks' first flexible OLED lighting panels, branded as BendOLEDs.

BASF's Coatings division announced that OLEDWorks uses the company's flexible barrier solutions in its Bright 3 family of OLED panels (both flexible and rigid). OLEDWorks uses BASF materials as planarization layer to enable highly reliable thin-film encapsulation.