Omdia says that Color-Filter on Encapsulation (COE) will grow to be the dominant technology in foldable OLED smartphone panels, and will replace the currently-used circular polarizers. COE adoption will grow at a 33% CAGR between 2024-2030, and by 2030 almost 90% of foldable smartphones will use COE technology, and almost 20% of all smartphone OLED panels.
The adoption of COE in OLEDs increases the panel effective brightness, which means that the display consumes less power compared to a polarizer OLED (same brightness) and also lasts longer. The color gamut is also improved. On the other hand, COE OLEDs suffer from higher reflectivity compared to polarizer OLEDs.
As the COE is patterned directly on the panel, the entire OLED display is thinner, and this reduces film stress which is very important for foldable displays. To mitigate the reflectivity, OLED makers are utilizing a black pixel definition layer (PDL) as well as other technologies. As the cost premium over polarizer-OLEDs is not significant, Omdia is optimistic and forecasts this impressive growth for COE OLEDs.
