JOLED (Japan OLED) was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with an aim to become an OLED medium display (10-30 inch) producer. The company is aiming to start mass production in 2019, although some panels may ship in limited volume earlier.
Last week at Cebit 2017 JOLED demonstrated some of its latest OLED prototypes. In the photo above you can see JOLED's 21.6" 4K (3840x2160, 204 PPI) "medical applications" monitor. JOLED also demonstrated what seems to be the same panel for "consumer" application (they call this private viewing). The whole panel weighs just 500 grams and the color gamut is 130% sRGB.
The second display is a flexible Full-HD AMOLED. JOLED did not disclose any specifications, but I believe that this is the first time that they present an actual flexible prototype.
The third display on show is the 12.2" FHD (1920x1080, 180 PPI) AMOLED you see above. This panel also features a color gamut of 130% sRGB, simialr to the 21.6" one and it weighs 200 grams.
The final panel on display is the 19.3" 4K (228 PPI) you can see above.
In November 2016 it was reported that JOLED developed a 21.6" 4K monitor for medical applications - and it's great to see this panel on display. The same report also claimed that JOLED will start low-volume production of this panel in 2017 (in its existing 4.5-Gen pilot line). This part remains to be seen of course.
JOLED is using a printing based process to make direct-emission (RGB) OLED panels using ink-jet printers made by Panasonic and PLED materials produced by Sumitomo. The OLED structure is based on Sony's technology. JOLED said that its backplane is a transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor, but in the photos above you can see that the current prototypes use an LTPS backplane. For more information on JOLED's technology click here.
Towards the end of 2016 Japan Display (JDI) paid around $100 million USD to INCJ to raise its stake at JOLED to over 50%. This deal values JOLED at around $300 million.
Comments
JOLED Inc will take advantage in the middle OLED display thinks to RGB printing method and solution process adapted by this Japanese consortium.
Hopefully there will eventually be a 21.6″ 4K OLED monitor for nonmedical purposes available on the real market.