UBI Research says that OLED emitting material sales amounted to $412 million in the second quarter of 2022, up 7.8% from last year. Sales decreased about 2.1% from Q1 2022.
UBI says that the sales of OLED panels were seasonably low in the second quarter (compared to Q1), but this was somewhat offset due to favorable exchange rates, and supply of new materials with higher prices.
OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q2 2022, with revenues of $7.2 million (up 14% from Q2 2021). The company's net loss was $1.4 million. At the end of the quarter, eMagin had $4.3 million in cash and equivalents. The company's backlog is $14.3 million.
eMagin says that it achieved increased sales of displays in both the defense sector (mainly the ENVG-B program) and also to the veterinary and surgical markets.
Market research firm Omdia sees higher demand for OLED solutions for the automotive sector. Omdia says shipments of OLED panels will grow from around 500,000 units in 2022 to almost 6 million units by 2028.
Currently most automotive makers that use OLEDs adopt flexible panels, but Omdia actually sees the adoption of rigid glass-based OLEDs (single stack) growing faster than that of flexible OLEDs (tandem stack), and by 2027 the share of rigid automotive OLEDs will be higher than that of flexible ones. This is an interesting forecast.
Idemitsu Kosan announced that it has developed the world's most efficient blue fluorescence OLED emitter system. Idemitsu's new system achieves an EQE of 14% (at current density of 10 mA/cm2), a lifetime of over 400 hours (LT95 @ 50 mA/cm2) and a color point of (0.14,0.08).
The new material system uses a tandem structure of two blue OLED emitter layers. Idemitsu says that by separating the region that causes charge recombination and utilizing TTF (Triplet-Triplet Fusion) it managed to achieve the high light output.
Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a white OLED device that can be deposited on thin fabrics. The researchers say that this is the world's first such device, as previous white OLEDs, made using a tandem structure, could not be bent on fibers.
For the new device, the researchers developed a single white light-emitting layer. The brightness of the device is up to 700 nits, with an efficiency of 10 candelas per ampere.
According to a report from Korea, BOE is in talks with China-based smartphone producer Honor regarding the supply of tandem (dual-stack) OLED displays to be used in Honor's smartphones.
BOE hopes that its tandem OLED panels will reduce power consumption by around 30% compared to a single-stack OLED display, which will enable Honor to adopt a smaller battery and a thinner design. Both companies hopes to be able to introduce the panels and the smartphones that use it by the end of 2022.
Back in 2020 we reported that Apple is worried about lifetime and burn-in issues in AMOLED displays in tablet applications, and Apple decided to adopt a tandem OLED architecture in the displays it will eventually adopt in future iPad devices.
LG Display already developed such panels for automotive applications, and according to reports it is developing a tandem LTPO AMOLED display for Apple, aiming to supply these to Apple at around 2024. According to a new report, Samsung Display has launched a project to develop tandem OLED panels as it also hopes to supply panels for Apple's future iPads.
DSCC posted an interesting article, comparing the production costs of OLED vs mini-LED panels for IT. DSCC estimates that for tablets and notebooks, a tandem structure will be used, and the panels will be based on rigid substrates.
In the chart above you see a production cost comparison, between 2021 and 2025, for 12.9" panels. DSCC looks at two OLED production options: a tandem OLED panel with an LTPO backplane produced in a 6-Gen fab, and a similar panel that uses an Oxide-TFT backplane and produced in a larger 8.5-Gen fab. As you can see, OLED panels are more cost effective, and will remain so throughout the forecast period.
A few days ago we posted that Apple has reportedly decided to delay its iPad OLED launch to 2023, and the company canceled its current joint development project with Samsung Display, as SDC could not develop what Apple wanted - a tandem stack structure, which would have improved the lifetime and performance of the AMOLED display.
According to a new report from Korea, LG Display is also developing a tablet display for Apple - a 12.9" AMOLED panel. LG's iPad display will be ready for mass production by 2023-2024, and it will use a tandem (2 stacks) architecture on an LTPO backplane. As SDC's project is canceled, it is likely that LG's 12.9" will be the first OLED adopted by Apple's tablets.
Reports from Korea suggest that Apple has decided to delay its iPad OLED launch to 2023, and the company canceled its current joint development project with Samsung Display.
SDC aimed to develop a 10.86 AMOLED display for Apple's iPad. According to earlier reports, Apple wanted SDC to developed a tandem stack structure to improve the OLED device lifetime and brightness - and also to reduce burn-in problems. Apparently SDC is not ready to start tandem OLED production next year, and Apple will not accept a single-stack OLED for tablet applications.
