QD-OLED displays

Last updated on Wed 10/07/2024 - 13:02

OLED displays are made from organic emitter materials - and are gaining in popularity as these next-generation displays offer excellent image quality and novel form factors.

Samsung QD-OLED panel photo

Quantum Dots are tiny particles that have excellent photonic emission properties - and are used widely today in many LCD displays as the QD photoluminescence features enable the conversion of blue LED light to red and green light to create full-color displays that are better than white-backlit LCDs. QD particles can also be used to create emissive displays, in which the QDs themselves emit the light - read more about QD displays here.

QD-OLED displays are hybrid displays that use a combination of OLED emitters with QD color conversion layers and/or QD emitters. The basic idea is that the display uses only blue OLED emitters, and the QD layers conversts some of the pixels to red and green, thus creating a full color display.

Samsung QD-OLED

Samsung is the only company that have commercialized QD-OLED displays (at least until now). Samsung's QD Displays use blue OLED emitters and quantum-dots that convert the blue light to red and green light. In 2019 Samsung Display announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. A few years later, SDC started to produce panels in its first fab, mass producing TV and monitor QD-OLEDs.

Samsung attracted several customers (Sony and Samsung Electronics for TV panels, and several companies for its monitors), and these displays have been very well received by the market. Samsung is currently producing around a million QD-OLED panels per year. The future roadmap of Samsung's QD-OLED displays is not clear.

QD-OLED stack scheme (DSCC, Oct-2018)

TCL H-QLED

In 2019 it was unveiled that China-based display maker TCL is developing a new hybrid display technology that uses a blue OLED emitter coupled with red and green QD emitters. All three emitter materials will be combined and printed using ink-jet printing technology.

TCL callקג this technology H-QLED and said that this could prove to be the technology of choice for TCL's future high-end emissive TV displays. For more information on TCL's H-QLED, click here. The company, however, did not update on its H-QLED technology since 2019.

 

Does it make sense for LG Display and Samsung Display to merge?

In this article, we examine the theoretical question of whether or not it makes sense for LG Display and Samsung Display to merge, into one company.

Note that we have no indications that such a merger is even considered by the two companies, but we feel this is a fascinating topic that should be explored, and is supported by several strong arguments.

We'll start with a short introduction to the two companies, then see why there are many reasons to pursue a merger, then explain the reasons against a possible merger, and finally detail the current financial situations of both companies.

Samsung Display and LG Display

Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. SDC is a leader in OLED production, with a market share of over 40% in the small OLED display market (the second largest player, BOE, holds a market share of around 15%). SDC produces over 300 million AMOLED displays per year - supplying them to Apple's iPhones and tablets, Samsung Electronics Galaxy phones, and many more. The Company also produces larger-area QD-OLED panels for TVs and gaming monitors, and has a capacity of producing around a million TV panels per year. SDC no longer produces any LCDs. SDC does produce microLED displays (but on a very small scale, this is currently a strictly next-gen display technology), and the company develops OLED microdisplays (and also holds OLED microdisplay producer eMagin which it acquired in 2023 for $243 million).

Read the full story Posted: Oct 08,2024

Sony's QD-OLED A95L TV wins Value Electronics' 2024 TV Shootout

US retailer Value Electronics hosted their annual TV shootout® (now in its 20ths year), checking high-end calibrated TVs to see which model provides the best image quality. This year, Value Electronics tested six TVs, three of which were OLEDs, and three miniLEDs.

The three OLED TVs were the LG G4, Samsung S95D and Sony A95L. As in previous years, the top performing TV is a QD-OLED TV - specifically Sony's A95L. All of the three OLED TV models outperformed the miniLED TVs, as you can see by clicking on the image above.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 08,2024 - 1 comment

Samsung sold over 20,000 of its new QD-OLED gaming monitors in a month

Samsung Electronics says that a it has sold over 20,000 units of its new QD-OLED monitors, the Odyssey G8 and G6 in a month. The company says that the new monitors are popular in Europe, North America - and Southeast Asia.

Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 photo

A couple of months ago IDC says Samsung is leading the OLED monitor market, with a 34.7% market share by revenue (and 28.3% market share by shipments. Samsung Electronics started selling OLED monitors in 2023.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 02,2024

Samsung Display says it shipped over a million QD-OLED monitor panels

Samsung Display announced that it shipped over a million QD-OLED monitor panels. SDC started producing these panels in 2022, and is currently offering a wide range of panels, from 27-inch to 49-inch, mostly targeting gaming monitors. SDC is working with 10 monitor producers, that have released over 90 QD-OLED monitor models.

Samsung says that it plans to expand its QD-OLED market, by targeting professional monitors and content creation monitors. 

Read the full story Posted: May 24,2024

Samsung shows its latest OLED and QD-EL displays at Displayweek 2024

Samsung Display had a rather large booth at Displayweek 2024, showing its latest OLED displays and technologies. Samsung showed several displays - including foldable smartphone panels, laptop and tablet displays, two QD-OLED displays, its 9.4" round automotive AMOLED, and more.

One interesting display was a panel that combines a foldable and a rollable display, that can open up to an impressively large display. Samsung brands it as a Flex Note Extendable Display.

Read the full story Posted: May 22,2024

Will Samsung decide to abandon its QD-OLED technology?

In 2019 Samsung Display announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. A few years later, SDC started to produce panels in its first fab, mass producing TV and monitor QD-OLEDs. The company attracted several customers (Sony and Samsung Electronics for TV panels, and several companies for its monitors), and these displays have been very well received by the market.

Since 2022, Samsung has increased its production yields, and increased its production capacity, and today it produces around 40,000 substrates a month in its 8.5-Gen production line. Reviews of QD-OLED gaming monitors and TVs are very positive, with many analysts seeing QD-OLED as improving over LGD's WOLED panels in terms of image quality. 

But the reality at Samsung Display's QD-OLED division, is likely not so rosy. It seems that the technology is facing both market challenges and technology challenges - which may lead to a decision by Samsung to abandon it altogether. 

Read the full story Posted: Apr 08,2024 - 3 comments

Samsung Display increases focus on small and medium AMOLED production

A report from Korea suggests that SDC has transferred around 500 of its engineers from its large-area OLED development division, or about 30% of them, to its divisions that focus on small and medium-sized AMOLED development.

Samsung Display S-Foldalbe AMOLED smartphone prototype (SID DIsplayweek 2021)

Samsung tri-folding AMOLED prototype

According to the report, the main reason for SDC's change of priorities is due to the need to remain competitive with Chinese-based OLED makers that are offering OLED panels at low costs. Samsung estimates that it is ahead of its Chinese competitors by only a year or a year and half, and it is just a matter of time until Chinese companies catch up with South Korea makers (SDC and LGD).

Read the full story Posted: Apr 06,2024

Samsung's upcoming S90D OLED TV lineup will feature displays utilizing both WOLED QD-OLED panels

According to reports from Korea, LG Display requested Samsung Electronics to use its WOLED panels on the same tier as SDC's QD-OLED panels, and Samsung will use both panel technologies in its S90D OLED TV series. Samsung will likely not disclose the actual panel technology to the consumer, and will likely decide on the panel technology per region.

Samsung S90D OLED TV photo

The Samsung S90D will offer 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch panels. SDC only makes 55, 65, and 77-inch QD-OLED panels, and so in these sizes both QD-OLEDs and WOLEDs will be used. For the 42-, 48- and 83- models Samsung will only use WOLEDs.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 07,2024

Samsung: we sold 1 million OLED TVs in 2023 and had a market share of 22.7% in the OLED TV market

Samsung announced that in 2023 it retained its market-leading position in the TV mraket, with a 30.1% market share (revenues). The company also disclosed that it sold 1.01 million OLED TVs in 2023 - mostly QD-OLED TVs, and some WOLED TVs as well.

Samsung quotes Omdia saying that it had a 22.7% market share in the OLED TV Market (by revenue), which is pretty impressive, as the company is relatively very new to this market.

Read the full story Posted: Feb 20,2024