OLED lighting introduction and market status

Last year Audi unveiled its upcoming 2024 Q6 e-tron car, with the 2nd-generation OLEDWorks digital lighting solution. Now OLEDWorks formally launched its Atala digital OLED 2.0 technology, which is now available for automotive producers and Tier-1 suppliers.

By digital OLED technology, OLEDWorks means that these are taillights in which each segment (there could be 10 to 128 segments in each module) is controlled individually, making it into a simple display system. The company says that digital OLED 2.0 delivers unparalleled functionality and performance. The second generation solution offers more panel options and higher level of integration and features.

China-based Yeolight is making excellent inroads into the local automotive market in China. Several new car models launched lately, using the company's OLED taillight solutions.

First up we have the Nissan N7, this is a China-bound EV mid-size sedan that will be produced by Nissan for the Chinese market through the Dongfeng Nissan joint venture.

A few months ago Inuru started shipping its range of OLED-powered stickers, or "holo tags" as the company refers to them. These are battery-powered flexible stickers that can be used for laptops or any other use.

The company was kind enough to send us three stickers, from their latest Cyberpunk range. These stickers cost around 20 Euros, and there are many alternative designs. The idea is that the flexible stickers include a small OLED, a battery and a button that lights up the OLED for a few seconds. The whole device is said to be waterproof, but I did not test it.

Inuru says that the lifetime of the OLED is about 5,000 hours. As the battery is limited, though, they say that each sticker is limited at around 2,500 clicks. Some of them use a red OLED, and some a blue one.

Researchers from Shenzhen University and Wuhan University have designed new white OLED devices that exhibit exceptional power efficiency (over 190 lm/W, 39% EQE) and extended operational lifetime (LT80 446 hours at 1,000 cd/m²). 

The new device uses a blue TADF emitter emitter combined with a yellow MR-TADF emitter. The light is a warm white light. The researchers also used the same technique to create a standard white emission device, that still achieves a high EQE of 35.6%, thus further validating the strategy.

Last month China-based Voyah announced a new international all-electric SUV called the Zhiyin, that includes several innovative technologies. The taillights of the car are OLED lighting based, with 33 individually controlled OLED units on both the upper and lower sections, creating unique light patterns. We assumed that Yeolight is the OLED panel supplier, and indeed now the company confirmed that.

In addition to the OLED taillights, the Zhiyin will also an AMOLED display - a "curved sliding screen" that can "slide to accommodate different user needs". While this is not confirmed, we assume that this is a similar display to the one Hongqi just revealed yesterday - a sliding rollable 14.2" AMOLED panel produced by Visionox.

Audi unveiled its latest Q5 and SQ5 SUVs (2025 model). Both new cars adopt OLED lighting taillights and two AMOLED displays inside the car.

The OLED taillights utilize Audi's second-generation digital OLED solutions, and has six digital OLED lighting 'panels' made from 266 separate lighting segments. Audi says that the new OLED taillights can communicate with the vehicle’s immediate surroundings (Car-to-X) - for example it warns other road users of accidents and breakdowns in the road ahead. The OLED panels and technology are provided by OLEDWorks.

China-based Voyah announced that it will launch an international all-electric SUV called the Zhiyin next month. The Zhiyin was specifically developed for the global market, with two distinct front-end designs and several innovative technologies.

The Zhiyin will sport customizable OLED taillights, consisting of 33 individually controlled OLED units on both the upper and lower sections, creating unique light patterns. It is not clear whether this is optional, or whether it will come standard in all of the Zhiyin models. We assume that Yeolight is the OLED panel supplier, but we're not 100% sure.

In 2014 Konica Minolta started constructing its groundbreaking R2R flexible OLED lighting fab. The project saw many delays and entered production later than planned, and KM started producing panels at low volume at around 2020. The company recently started to ramp up production, and today we hear of one of its first customers and partners, Sentry Enterprises.

Sentry, a fintech company, launched the Radiance card illumination platform, which enables credit card (and other payment card) issuers to offer a unique experience by using an OLED lighting panel embedded in the card. The OLED panel is produced by Konica Minolta. The card works without a battery, and the OLED panel is powered by the NFC receiver upon a transaction (a technology that was demonstrated by KM back in 2020).