OLED Tablets - Introduction and Latest Industry News - Page 14

IDTechEx Research have recently revised its forecast for OLED displays - saying that glass-based OLEDs are not growing as fast as they expected (mostly because of Samsung's disappointing high-end AMOLED mobile phone sales) while the company is more optimistic regarding the flexible OLED market.

IDTechEx sees the glass-based AMOLED display market reaching $22.7 billion in 2022. The company's earlier estimate was $28.2 billion in the same year. The flexible OLED market will grow from $1.5 billion in 2015 to almost $3 billion in 2016 and over $16 billion in 2020. Most of those panels will be used in mobile phones. Note that the chart above does not include all flexible OLED applications (for example automotive applications).

Samsung today announced two new AMOLED tablets, the Galaxy Tab S2 9.7-inch and Galaxy Tab S2 8-inch. Both tablets adopt QXGA (2048x1536) Super AMOLED displays (263 PPI on the 9.7" and 320 PPI on the 8").

Those AMOLED displays are actually of lower density than those used in the first-gen Tab S tablets (which were WQXGA, or 2560x1600 or 287/359 PPI). Samsung however says that the Tab S2 OLEDs are "newly optimized" and deliver 94% of the Adobe RGB standard for true-to-life colors. The new aspect ratio (the tablets are not as wide as the Tab S ones) is better for reading, too.

JOLED (Japan OLED) was launched in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with an aim to become an OLED medium display producer - focusing at first on OLEDs for tables, laptops and signage). A report from Korea's ETNews claims that Apple has contracted JOLED to produce OLED displays for next-gen iPad tablets.

Earlier estimates said that JOLED will begin pilot production in the second half of 2017 and mass production in the second half of 2017, which seems more reasonable then the current ETNews estimates which are quite aggressive - mass production for Apple by the end of 2016.

Samsung is now offering a temporary $100 discount to its Tab S Super AMOLED tablets (Wi-Fi models). The 8.4 ones are now available for $299 while the 10.5 version costs $399. The deal only lasts till tomorrow (Apr 11) so hurry up if you like this price.

It may be that Samsung is preparing to release newer Tab S models, so they may be wishing to clear their inventory. A few months ago we heard rumors that Samsung is planning a large (12.2") AMOLED tablet.

According to Reuters, Samsung Display plans to invest $3.6 billion in a new OLED fab from 2015-2017, aiming to make small and medium size displays. Samsung did not release any information regarding the type and capacity of this fab.

One option for Samsung it to build another glass-based OLED fab. The company aims to reach OLED-LCD cost parity for small-sized displays towards the end of 2015. If this happens, it's likely that OLED prices will drop below LCD by 2017 (especially if more capacity is added) and thus demand for AMOLED displays for mobile phones and tablets will soar. Samsung increased their 5.5-Gen capacity from 10K substrates per month to 140K/m from 2009 to 2013.

Samsung updated its Milk Music application, and in the supported-devices list they accidentally listed a tablet that was never announced the Tab S Pro. According to SamMobile, this tablet may sport a 12.2" display (this is likely due to the Pro part of the name, as Samsung's previous Note Pro tablet has a 12.2" display).

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

Samsung's current Galaxy Tab S tablets use WQXGA (2560x1600) Super AMOLED displays (8.4" and 10.5"). It's likely that the new Tab S Pro will sport an AMOLED, and it will be great to see Samsung release such a large AMOLED to the market. Maybe following such a large display Samsung will finally release the first AMOLED laptop...

Dell's Venue 8 7000, the world's thinnest tablet (6 mm) is now shipping in the US for $400. The Android tablet uses a 8.4" WQXGA (2560x1600) Super AMOLED display (359 PPI), similar to Samsung's own Galaxy Tab S.

JOLED (Japan OLED) was launched in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with an aim to become an OLED medium display producer (focusing at first on OLEDs for tables, laptops and signage). Today the company was finally officially established and began operating.

According to reports from Japan, JOLED is headed by Orbotech Japan former president, and employs around 260 people. JOLED is owned by INCJ (75%), Japan Display (15%), Sony (5%) and Panasonic (5%). The company's current plan is to focus on 10-20 inch OLEDs and to begin pilot production in H2 2016 and mass production in 2H 2017. JOLED will mainly target laptops and tablets. It will great to finally get an OLED laptop, but hopefully we won't have to wait till 2017...

According to DisplaySearch, tablets makers are expected to increase OLED display adoptions due to their thin profile and low power consumption, and AMOLED tablet shipments will reach 42 million by 2019, up from about 4 million OLED tablets sold in 2014. In 2015 OLED technology is expected to hold a 5% in the AMOLED display market.

Currently the only AMOLED tablets on the market are Samsung's Galaxy Tab S series, launched in June 2014 (8.4" and 10.5"). Both Super AMOLED displays offer the same resolution - WQXGA (2560x1600), which means 359 PPI for the 8.4" tablet and 287 for the 10.5" one. DisplayMate says these OLED displays are the best tablet displays ever tested.

LG Display posted an interesting article explaining their plastic-based flexible OLED technologies and displays - showing how these displays are better than LCD displays in several aspects (mainly the fact that plastic OLEDs are thinner than LCDs and glass-based OLEDs). In addition, LG Display posted their flexible OLED roadmap:

As you can see, LG already produces flexible OLEDs for phones and wearable devices. In 2015-2016 the company sees flexible OLEDs being adopted in tablets and bendable phones. From 2017, LGD sees flexible OLEDs being used to produce foldable and rollable devices.