Sony - Page 6

According to Taiwan-based Topology Research Institute, Sony, Oculus and HTC will continue and dominate the VR market in 2019. Sony will continue to be the leading VR vendor, with sales of its HMD to grow 10% in 2019 to reach 2.2 million units.

The second largest will be Oculus Rift, which will see a surge of 80% in shipments to reach 1.7 million in 2019. HTC will also see a nice sales increase of 33% and the Topology expects HTC to ship 800,00 VR HMDs in 2019. In total, Topology expects the market to grow 29% to reach 6 million units in 2019.

Sony's latest flagship phone, the Xperia XZ3, will ship in September 24 in the US for $900 - and you can pre-order it now at Amazon.com. This is the single-SIM edition. In the UK, the XZ3 will ship in October 2018 for £699.

The Xperia XZ3 is a high-end smartphone that features a curved 6" QHD+ 1440x2880 (537 PPI) LG pOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, 4 GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD slot, Dual-SIM (optional) and a 19Mp 4K HDR camera.

Sony started shipping its flagship 2018 TV, the OLED AF9 - at $3,499 for the 55" model and $4,599 for the 65" model (note: affiliate links to Amazon).

Sony's AF9 is a consumer reference-quality OLED TV, available in 55" and 65". The 4K WRGB TVs include Sony's latest technologies, including the X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster, and an automated calibration mode. The TVs include a dedicated Netflix Calibrated Mode.

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) says that in Q1 2018 OLED revenues dropped 33% compared to Q4 2017 (but grew 39% compared to Q1 2017) and amounted to $5.9 billion. DSCC says that OLED revenues will decline further in Q2 2018 but will recover in the second half of 2018. Full-year revenues are expected to reach $26.95 billion, while the market will reach $57.2 billion by 2022.

Samsung Electronics was the top OLED customer in the first quarter, and together with Apple (#2) the two companies consumer 79% of all OLED panels by revenue.

Sony only started to ship its 2018 AF8 OLED TVs last month, but apparently the company is already getting ready to release its next-generation OLEDs. Sony accidentally listed some new models on its support website - including the XBR-55A9F and the XBR-65A9F.

The page has been already removed, and we don't really know whether these new TVs are real, or maybe these are just future 2019 model numbers.

Sony launched a new OLED microdisplay, the ECX339A, which has the world's smallest pixel pitch (according to Sony) at 6.3um. The 0.5-inch microdisplay's resolution is 1600x1200 (UXGA) and it supports a frame rate of up to 240 fps. The maximum brightness is 1,000 nits.

Sony already started sampling this new microdisplay in January 2018, and mass production is planned for November 2018. The price of each sample is ¥50,000 - or about $460 USD.

Sony's 2018 OLED TVs, the AF8, started shipping today in the US. The 55" model costs $2,800 while the 65" costs $3,800 (note: these are affiliate links to Amazon).

The AF8 is a premium TV series (55-inch / 65-inch) that feature Sony's X1 Extreme picture processor, Sony's Acoustic Surface tech and Google and Amazon voice recognition technologies.

Sony's announced the prices of its new 2018 OLED TV, the AF8. The 55" model will retail for $2,800 while the 65" one will cost $3,800. The AF8 will ship soon in the summer. You can pre-order now at Amazon.com, although prices are higher by around $500 then Sony's official price.

The AF8 is a premium TV series (55-inch / 65-inch) that feature Sony's X1 Extreme picture processor, Sony's Acoustic Surface tech and Google and Amazon voice recognition technologies.

According to Business Korea, LG Display signed an agreement with Sony to supply it with flexible pOLED displays for future Sony smartphones. Sony is not a major smartphone player globally, but in Japan it holds 14.9% of the market (second only to Apple).

LG Display is already supplying Sony with OLED displays for Sony's OLED TVs, and reportedly in 2017 Sony requested LGD to double its OLED panel shipments as demand for Sony's OLED TVs has been better than expected.

During a wearable conference in Tokyo, Japan's ColorLink demonstrated its new VR and AR prototype devices, which both use OLED microdisplays. The company says that using OLED microdisplays it can produce more compact VR devices.

The ColorLink devices use 0.7" FHD OLED microdisplays, which are probably Sony's ECX335AF displays.