Flexible OLEDs: introduction and market status - Page 32

UK-based OTFT developer SmartKem announced that it has signed a landmark deal with a leading display maker in Taiwan that will enable the display maker to commercialize SmartKem's OTFT technology in flexible displays.

The agreement will see a complete technology transfer, including production line deployment and supply of materials. This agreement marks the culmination of the LOI signed in November 2017. SmartKem updates us that this agreement covers both LCD and OLED displays.

Display analyst firm DSCC posted an interested article stating that the latest range of bezel-less LCDs are very similar to the high-end flexible OLEDs in form (not in contrast or image quality), to the point that mid-smartphone makers find it hard to justify the extra cost of a flexible OLEDs. The following table graphs shows the current price gap between flexible OLEDs and LCDs:
While a flexible OLED does enable a higher display-to-body ratio (82.9% on the iPhone X, for example), a high end LCD comes pretty close - the Oppo F5 reaches 78.1%.

UBI Research estimates that AMOLED shipments reached 440 million units in 2017 (up 13.6% from 2016), with revenues reaching $27.1 billion (up 62.3% from 2016). Only yesterday did DSCC release its own estimates of $23.2 billion in revenues for the AMOLED market in 2017.

The AMOLED market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.5% to reach almost a billion units in 2022. Revenues will grow faster at 22% and reach $80.5 billion in 2022.

We're happy to announce a new market report: the PMOLED Market Report. This report, brought to you by the world's leading OLED experts, is a comprehensive guide to passive matrix OLED displays (PMOLEDs). The PMOLED market is projected to grow rapidly, fueled by demand from wearables and by flexible and transparent displays, but is overlooked by most analysts focused on the (much larger) AMOLED market.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• Applications of PMOLED displays
• Next generation PMOLED technologies
• Flexible and transparent PMOLEDs
• AMOLED vs PMOLED

The report also includes:

• Information on all PMOLED producers
• Current and future PMOLED fabs
• Automotive PMOLEDs
• Display catalogs and datasheets
• Free updates for a year

Market research company Sigmaintell estimates that China-based display makers shipped 9.8 million OLED displays in 2017, mostly for smartphone applications. Everdisplay was the largest producer in terms of units, shipping 3.8 million displays (enjoying large orders from Huawei and Hisense), while Visionox was the top vendor in terms of display area shipped (30,000 square meters, out of a total 78,000 sqm produced in China in 2017).

Looking into 2018, Sigmaintell sees a large increase in production volume in 2018. Visionox landed orders from ZTE and Xiaomi and is expanding its production capacity, and BOE is also expected to increase shipments from its flexible 6-Gen AMOLED fab that will enter full capacity in Q2 2018. Finally, Tianma is also expected to increase production having won orders from Asustek Computer.

In a somewhat confusing article, ETNews claims that Samsung Display's utilization rate at its A3 flexible OLED line has fallen more than 10% compared to 2017 as the company sees decreased shipments to Apple. This is yet another sign that Apple is seeing lower iPhone X sales than initially expected.

ETNews says that Q1 is always a seasonally low quarter, but this year's utilization rate is lower than what Samsung experienced in Q1 2017. ETNews says that Apple's share of the A3 capacity was about 77%, with the rest of the production going for Samsung Electronics and Chinese phone makers.

During Tokyo's Wearable Expo, Pioneer introduced new PMOLED displays and devices. One of the devices on display seems to be an AR glasses concept that adopts a curved transparent PMOLED:

We don't have more information on Pioneer's new PMOLED besides what you can see in the image above. Pioneer announced it has developed flexible monochrome PMOLED panels back in 2013 (produced on ultra-thin glass) but did not commercialize such panels yet.

LG Display reported its Q4 2017 financial results. Revenues reached KRW7,126 billion ($6.6 billion USD) - up slightly from Q3 2017 but down 10% from Q4 2016. Net income was KRW 44 billion ($42 million USD, a drop of 91% from Q3 2017 and 95% from Q4 2016).

Looking back at 2017, LGD says that it solidified its OLED business, increased its annual OLED TV shipments to 1.7 million units and started production of flexible OLEDs at its E5 production line. The 6-Gen E5 line has started mass production in Q3 2017 but will only start to output displays for products that will launch at the end of 2017 - the 6" P-OLEDs used in LG's own V30 and Google's Pixel 2 XL were produced at LG's older and smaller E2 line, and reviewers and consumers alike were disappointed in LG's AMOLED performance. . In August we first reported that LGD is still facing very low yields at its 6-Gen E5 line, but it seems that yields and display quality are improving.

Google's Pixel 2 XL (which started shipping in October 2017) is one of the first two phones to adopt LG Display's new 6" 1440x2880 (538 PPI) pOLEDs (alongside with LG's own V30). While on paper these displays are superb, actual reviews were rather dismal - as both reviewers and customers complained about bad color reproduction, graininess and problematic viewing angles. In addition many users seem to report serious image retention issues.

According to reports in 2017, LGD faced very low yields at its 6-Gen E5 line, and so had to produce these smartphone displays at its Gen-4.5 flexible AMOLED line. Some users are now saying that these issues do not plague all of Google's phone - and some come with noticeable better displays. This should be good news for LGD and it's likely that as the company gains more experience with smartphone pOLED production, it will produce better looking displays in better yields.

Last week we posted about Skyworth's CES booth, where the company reportedly demonstrated new household appliances that utilize flexible AMOLED displays. It turns out that Skyworth also unveiled a smart bracelet that utilizes a flexible OLED

This seems to be a very early prototype device, as the engineering is crude and it appears just to show an image - but still it is nice to see companies testing flexible OLED based designs.