Super AMOLED: introduction and market status - Page 9

As we get closer to Samsung's Galaxy S5 flagship launch (which will probably take place at around March), the rumors keep flowing. Only a week ago we posted that a Chinese site claims that the GS5 will sport a 5.25" WQHD (560 PPI) LCD (made by Sharp), but this time the Samsung-focused blog SamMobile says that the upcoming phone will use an AMOLED. Indeed it will sport a WQHD resolution and the size will be around 5.25".

SamMobile also confirms that the S5 will come in two models, a plastic one and a premium one made from metal. Other features include a 16mp camera (which may or may now feature hardware optical image stabilization), an Exynos 6 eight-core CPU (or a Snapdragon 805 in some markets) and Android 4.4 (KitKat).

According to a new leaked document, Samsung is set to release a 'lite' version of its Galaxy Note 3 phone. The so-called Galaxy Note 3 Neo will sport a 5.55" HD Super AMOLED display (seems similar to the Note 2 display).

It seems that the phone will be like an update to the Galaxy Note 2 - with a faster CPU and an updated Android version (4.3). It will also sport a 8mp camera and the same memory configuration of the Note 2 (2GB RAM and 16GB storage).

Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S5 in a few months, and there are many rumors regarding this upcoming phone. The latest report from Korea says that SDC started producing 5.25" WQHD (2560x1440, 560 PPI) AMOLED panels that will be used in the GS5. The display uses the same Diamond Pixel arrangement as in the GS4.

Earlier rumors suggested that Samsung will adopt a flexible YOUM OLED for a premium version of the GS5. As a reminder, the flexible OLED in the Galaxy Round (which can be considered a Note 3 variant) is not a YOUM display as it is uses a glass cover.

The Galaxy Round, Samsung's first flexible OLED device sports a 5.7" Full-HD (386 PPI) Super AMOLED display. It was released a few weeks ago in Korea but there were several question marks regarding this display - is it based on a plastic substrate? is it a YOUM display? is the display unbreakable? And does it make sense to have a curved display?

My friend Raymond Soneira from DisplayMate managed to get hold on this phone and put it through extensive testing like he always does. In his post Raymond actually answers all this questions. So first of all, Raymond confirms that the display is indeed a flexible OLED built on a plastic substrate. But samsung used a cover glass to protect it. This means that it is not an unbreakable display, which explains why Samsung does not brand it as a YOUM display.

Samsung announced today that they sold over 40 million Galaxy S4 phones worldwide, six months after launching their flagship phone. This is an impressive number but it's actually lower than Samsung first anticipated - the company hoped to sell 10 million devices a month and reach 100 million sales.

Samsung's GS4 features a 4.99" Full-HD (1920x1280, 441 PPI) Super AMOLED display, an Octa-core (Quadcore in some models) 1.6Ghz CPU, 2GB of memory, 13 mp camera and a 2,600 mAh battery. The GS4 includes a lot of new software features and special UI controls, include the Adapt Display which allows extensive display calibration adjustments.

When Samsung launched the Galaxy Gear, the only devices that could connect to it were the new Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Now Samsung announced that it is offering Android updates (to v4.3) to more devices (including the GS4, GS3 and the Note 2) and these will now be able to connect to the Galaxy Gear.

The Galaxy Gear, Samsung's first smartwatch, features a 1.63" 320x320 (275 PPI) Super AMOLED display, a 1.9 mp camera (720p videos), 800Mhz processor, 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, Bluetooth 4, and a 315 mAh non-removable battery. 

Update: It seems to me that Samsung did clarify this issue saying that this is not a glass-based display, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

On October 9th, Samsung launched the world's first device with a flexible OLED display, the Galaxy Round smartphone - with it's curved 5.7" Full-HD flexible Super AMOLED. Strangely Samsung does not refer to this display as a YOUM display, which is the brand name for plastic-based OLEDs they launched at CES 2013.

In their PR, Samsung also never mentioned that this display is "unbreakable" - which is one of the biggest advantages of plastic-based OLEDs. Samsung's design is also much less exciting that the design prototypes they unveiled at CES that used a YOUM display. A couple of weeks ago I thought that perhaps this display uses a glass substrate and not a plastic one, which will explain everything. I checked with my sources and they said that it is using plastic and this is a YOUM display.

On Octbober 9th, Samsung launched the world's first device with a flexible OLED display, the Galaxy Round smartphone, with it's curved 5.7" Full-HD flexible Super AMOLED. Today SamMobile reports that Samsung has no plans to release this phone outside of Korea. The company regards it as a "prototype" device and they will only produce limited quantities.

This makes sense because Samsung's flexible OLED capacity is limited. Samsung Display is producing those OLEDs at their 5.5-Gen line, and the monthly capacity is about 8,000 sheets. But it's likely that Samsung also uses this line for R&D work. Combine this with probably not very high yields, and you'll find that the real production capacity is probably quite low. It's also likely that those flexible OLEDs are very expensive currently - the Galaxy Round costs 1,090,000 Won (a little over $1,000) in Korea, it's very expensive.

Do you have a Galaxy S4 or a Galaxy Note 3? Samsung just published a new Android application that targets those devices that have a Full-HD Super AMOLED display. The application simply shows beautiful nature shots by renowned photographers (such as Ashley Vincent, Hougaard Malan, Kwon O Chul and Satoshi Kuribayashi) and also highlights how OLEDs produces accurate colors and a large color gamut.

AT&T is now offering Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 - starting from $289 with a plan. You can also buy it without a plan for $749.99. The Note 3 smartwatch companion, the Galaxy Gear, is now shipping from Amazon for $299.99. 

The Galaxy Note 3 features a 5.7" Full-HD Super AMOLED display (386 PPI), a 2.3 Quad-Core CPU (or a 1.9 Ghz octa-core in some markets), 3 GB of RAM, 32/64GB of storage, a 13 MP camera (will be capable of 4K videos in some markets) and Android 4.3. It is smaller and lighter than the Note 2. DisplayMate says that the Note 3 has the best AMOLED display ever - and it actually beats the best LCDs across the board.