Plastic - Page 4

Update: It turns out that Plastic Logic didn't actually demonstrate the flexible OLED prototype. They did show a presentation, in which they revealed that the current first-gen prototype is monochrome (red) and quite simple. They do intend to keep producing new demonstrators throughout 2014.

Novaled (owned by Samsung) and Plastic Logic announced that during 2014 they will demonstrate truly flexible, plastic, full-organic AMOLED displays. The first-gen display was demonstrated at the FlexTech conference in Phoenix last week. Plastic Logic hopes that the technology will be ready for adoption by display makers towards the end of 2014.

The two companies say that this is the first time an all-plastic AMOLED produced in a low-temperature manufacturing process is demonstrated. The display uses Novaled's PIN OLED materials and Plastic Logic's OTFT backplane. The display also used organic materials from Merck (probably the emitters).

LG Display's CEO, Han Sang-Beom, said yesterday that the company aims to lead the wearable device display market with its flexible plastic-based OLEDs. The company is already in talks with its major clients ("top-tier makers") to supply flexible displays for bendable devices.

Han says that the company is ready to supply "many clients" with flexible OLEDs. The company already has internal shipment targets, but he wouldn't reveal those targets and any of the potential clients. Han did mention both Sony and Google as companies "interested in wearable devices" but he didn't go as far as saying they are interested in LGD's OLEDs.

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.

LG officially launched the G Flex today in Korea. This is the first phone that uses LG Display's flexible plastic OLED display. The G Flex has a 6" 720p RGB flexible OLED display made by LG Display that is curved from top to bottom (unlike Samsung's Galaxy Round which is curved from left to right). Unlike Samsung, LG did specifically say this is a plastic-based display, but they too don't seem to mention the fact that it is shatterproof.

The G Flex has a 2.3Ghz Snapdragon S800 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory, a 13MP camera, NFC, Android 4.2.2 and a 3500mAh non-removable battery (LG Chem's curved battery). The G Flex has two rear-mounted buttons and a "self-healing" back (that will heal scratches quickly).

Samsung posted their quarterly results for Q3 2013 - a record operation profit of $9.6 billion from sales of $55 billion. Net profit was over $7.7 billion. Smartphone sales growth is slowing, but Samsung's business was booster but memory chip profits and cheaper smartphone sales (what they call mass-market products).

Regarding OLEDs, the company says that high end smartphone OLED panel sales increased. This includes newer products such as the Note 3. For Q4 2013, the company plans to enhance OLED market leadership by "improving differentiated product offerings such as 5.7 FHD (Glass & Curved)".

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.

Engadget said they got hold of the following "press renders" showing LG's upcoming LG G Flex phone that will sport a flexible OLED display. Engadget also reports that they confirmed that the OLED panel will be 6" in size and the phone will be announced in November.

As you see this phone is curved from top to bottom. I think this makes more sense than Samsung's Galaxy Round which also uses a flexible OLED but is curved from left to right. Of course we'll have to wait for someone to review both phones to see which design is better. I'm guessing in coming months we'll see several new phone designs using flexible panels as makers try to figure out how best to use curved displays.

Yesterday we reported that Samsung started mass producing plastic-based 5.7" FHD flexible OLED panels, and today the company announced the first device to use them - the Galaxy Round smartphone. This is an Android 4.3 smartphone similar to the Galaxy Note 3, with the major feature being the curved (400 mm curvature radius) flexible display (samsung simply refers to it as a flexible Super AMOLED, strangely they are not using the YOUM brand).

The Galaxy Round includes all sorts of user interface tweaks to take advantage of the curved screen, for example the so-called Roll-Effect that enables user to check information such as date, time, missed call and battery easily when home screen is off (see video below) and the "Gravity Effect" for creating visual interaction with the screen by tilting the device.

Just minutes after posting that LGD announced it will start mass producing flexible OLEDs, here comes Samsung with their own announcement. It turns our that Samsung Display is already mass producing 5.7" flexible OLEDs and supplying them to Samsung Electronics. Samsung will release the first flexible OLED phone (probably a Galaxy Note 3 Special-Edition) "within days".

Samsung's 5.7" panel offers Full-HD resolution and it is only 0.12 mm thin. It weighs 5.2 grams and has a curvature radius is 400 mm. So while LG's flexible display is larger at 6", it is much thicker (more than three times thicker at 0.44 mm).

Update: Samsung Display announced today that it too has began flexible OLED mass production. Samsung is making 5.7" Full-HD panels and they expect to release the first phone to use them within days.

LG Display announced today that it will start mass producing flexible OLEDs for smartphones. It's not clear whether they actually started panel production or whether production will start soon. LG said that they aim to take an early lead in the flexible display market and introduce new products with "enhanced performance and differentiated designs" next year.

LGD revealed some information about the first flexible OLED panel to be produced. It is a 6" panel that weighs just 7.2 grams and is only 0.44 mm thin. Last week we reported on rumors about LG's upcoming flexible OLED phone - with a 6" display indeed. It may be that those rumors actually referred to these production news as the first device is only expected in 2014 and not "within days" as the rumors suggested.