Panasonic - Page 5

As expected, Panasonic announced the company's first OLED TV, the TX-65CZ950. This is a curved 65" 4K OLED panel that features Panasonic's 4K Pro tech which includes advanced gradation controls and 3D color look tables. The TV supports HDR and is THX certified.

The OLED panel itself is produced by LG Display, and uses LGD's WOLED (WRGB) architecture. Panasonic used to co-develop OLED TVs together with Sony, but that OLED TV joint development project was canceled in December 2013. Panasonic (together with JDI, Sony and the INCJ) formed a new company (JOLED) to develop small/medium OLED panels. But the company OLED TV program is reportedly halted.

A year ago Panasonic unveiled new 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes, later showing the same prototypes at CES 2015. Those OLED TVs used LG Display's WRGB 65" 4K panels, and Panasonic executives promised to release these TVs later in 2015.

According to a French blogger, Panasonic is going to unveil their first OLED TV model at IFA 2015 next month. The model will be called 65CZ950 and it will be a curved 4K 65" TV that supports HDR.

Reuters reports that LG said it plans to partner with Chinese and Japanese firms with an aim to make OLED TVs more mainstream.

Panasonic 65-inch OLED TV prototype

This isn't really news, as LG Display already supplies OLED TV panels to several companies in China (including Skyworth, Changhong, Haier, Konka and KTC) and is also collaborating with Panasonic and Grundig. LG Display has been in talks with Sony and Panasonic to supply OLED panels since at least January 2013.

One year ago, Panasonic and Idemitsu Kosan dissolved their joint OLED Lighting company PIOL (established in 2011). It was then reported that Panasonic will withdraw completely form the OLED lighting market to focus solely on LED lighting.

Today IDTechEx posted an interview (which apparently took place a few months ago during the Printed Electronics USA trade show) with Panasonic's Professor Komoda, which says that Panasonic actually still has high hopes for OLED lighting, as it represents the best technology for diffused and flexible lighting solutions. Professor Komoda sees OLEDs "well accepted" within three years.

Panasonic has unveiled a new VR headset prototype during a private demonstration in Japan. The device, which is similar to Oculus' VR headset uses a large AMOLED display that realizes large field of view (viewing angle of 90-degrees) and a fast refresh rate of up to 75 fps.

Panasonic says that the prototype, unlike Oculus Rift's product, can be hooked on the ears like regular glasses (Oculus' headset uses a strap). The company did not disclose any information regarding the commercialization of the new headset.

Last year Panasonic unveiled new 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes at the IFA 2014 trade show, and the company is showing what seems to be the same prototypes at CES 2015. Panasonic executives at CES said that the company plans to release these OLED TVs in 2015, but the company later denied that it had any immediate plans for commercialization.

Sony and Panasonic halted their OLED TV joint development project in December 2013, and Panasonic (together with JDI, Sony and the INCJ) formed a new company (JOLED) to develop small/medium OLED panels. But the company OLED TV program is reportedly halted (or slowed-down at best) and these new prototypes use panel supplied by LG Display.

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 Bloomberg, LG Display expects its OLED business to turn a profit in 2015. LG Display's OLED business lost about $530 million in 2013, according to Hana Daetoo Securities. LGD is still on track to start production on its new M2 OLED TV production fab, and OLED earnings will reach about $150 million in 2015 according to Hana Daetoo.

LG is already supplying OLED panels to China's Skyworth, Changhong and Konka. According to earlier reports (and cited again in this Bloomberg article) LGD is in talks with both Sony and Panasonic for OLED supply. A couple of weeks ago Panasonic showed 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes that use panels made by LGD.

Panasonic unveiled new 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes at the IFA 2014 trade show. These are just concept models (panels in a stand), and the company's director of home entertainment business says Panasonic is waiting for IFA attendees feedback before they decide to release those commercially.

It is rather surprising to see Panasonic show these TVs. Sony and Panasonic halted their OLED TV joint development project in December 2013, and later on Panasonic (with Sony and the INCJ) formed a new company, JOLED, to develop small/medium OLED panels. Panasonic's OLED TV program development was probably halted, or slowed-down at best.

Last month Sony, Japan Display, Panasonic and the INCJ formed a new OLED company called JOLED to focus on medium sized OLEDs. JOLED will be launched in January 2015 and has the potential to become a large OLED player.

A few days later, OLEDNet reported that JOLED is likely to choose small-molecules OLEDs, Oxide-TFT backplanes, Sony's Super Top Emission technology and an WRGB pixel architecture. Today I found Sony's original press release (a month late, actually), and there's some interesting information in there.