WRGB - Page 10

DisplaySearch says that OLED TV panels production costs are still very high, but this will not deter investments and the company forecasts rapid expansion in AMOLED capacity, as can be seen in the chart below (in which the yellow bars show AMOLED capacity while the green bar is capacity that can be used for either LCD or AMOLED production):

According to this chart dedicated AMOLED fab capacity grew from less than a million square meters in 2011 to almost four million square meters in 2013. In 2017, dedicated AMOLED capacity will reach 14 million square meters (i.e. 28 times as much capacity as in 2011).

Yesterday it was reported that Japan Display is planning to raise ¥200 billion (around $2 billion USD) in an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. JDI will be valued at around ¥700 - $800 billion ($7 to $8 billion USD) and will use the money to invest in new capacity and OLED technology.

JDI was formed in November 2011 by Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba who combined their small/medium panel production capabilities and received $2 billion from Japan's Innovation Network Corp (INCJ). The company is currently the largest small/medium display producer and reportedly supplying displays to Apple an Google among others.

Now that both LG and Samsung are shipping 55" curved OLED TVs in the US, we can expect several reviews that compare these two TVs. The first one comes from HDguru via NBC News. They like both TVs saying that they provide an image superior to any LCD or plasma TV they ever tested - but Samsung's OLED TV is better than LG's (and it's cheaper by 40%, too).

Samsung's KN55S9C was found to be brighter than the LG 55EA9800. LG's TV also suffered from dimming of test signals and stuck sub-pixels. Surprisingly, both TVs suffered from motion blur, but Samsung offers a special mode (Clear Motion) which inserts black frames between live frames. This removes the blur (but lowers the brightness).

Only a few weeks after launching the KN55S9 55" curved OLED TV in South Korea for 15 million Won (about $13,000), Samsung slashed the price today by 34% - to 9.9 million Won (about $8,900). Samsung said that this price cut will enable them to reach more consumers and lead the OLED TV market. Samsung will refund the difference for customers who already bought the TV.

Reports from Korea say that Samsung were also able to improve the production yield of these OLED TVs and so can now produce more panels and lower the price. Now it will be interesting to see how LG responds - their own curved OLED TV costs $13,000. LG is using a theoretically more cost-effective production technology (WRGB vs Samsung's direct-emission OLEDs).

LG Electronics announced today that their curved 55" OLED TV is now available in the US, exclusively through Magnolia stores inside Best Buy. The 55EA9800 costs $14,999 (in South Korea it costs around $13,500) and it is currently on display in Best Buy's store in Richfeld, Minnesota.

In the following weeks more stores will display and sell the OLED TV (in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and San Antonio) and later on more stores will offer it. According to Pocket Lint, LG's TV is "jaw-droppingly stunning". LG's curved OLED TV features an Oxide-TFT WRGB Full-HD OLED panel (like LG's 55EM9700 'flat' OLED TV). The TV features "infinite" contrast ratio, passive 3D, Smart Touch Controls and a "paper-slim" design (it's only 4.3 mm thick and weighs just 17Kg). It is made from Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP).

During SID 2013 AUO unveiled a new 4.4" AMOLED panel prototype. The panel is 4.4" in size and features a PPI of 413 (1600x900 resolution). The brightness is 250 nits and the color gamut is 105% NTSC. This panel uses the WRGB structure and an LTPS backplane.

Last month AUO unveiled an AMOLED with an even higher PPI (5" Full-HD, 443 PPI). It's nice to see AUO unveil new prototypes, but what we really want to see is for them to start actual mass production. Some reports suggest that AUO's yields are still very low (around 40%) and the company won't stat mass production until 2014.

Several companies announced new flexible OLED panels at SID 2013. None of the panels were demonstrated (except for Toshiba which showed the OLED but it was not powered). First up is Toshiba, which showed a 10.2" 1920x1200 (223 PPI) panel. Toshiba's OLED has an Oxide TFT backplane and uses the WRGB (white OLED with color filters) architecture.

Toshiba flexible OLED prototype

Panasonic developed a 4" flexible OLED with 224x224 resolution (only 80 PPI, direct emission). Panasonic used PEN as a substrate and the panel can be bent up to a curvature radius of 10 mm. This is also an Oxide-TFT panel. To produce it, Panasonic attached the PEN sheet to a glass substrate, deposited the OLED materials and then de-laminated the glass.

Two days ago we reported on rumors that Google's next gen Google Glass HMD (or "wearable computer") will use OLED microdisplays made by Samsung Display. I wrote that as far as I know SDC never developed OLED microdisplays, but apparently I was wrong.

One of my sources sent me a conference paper from 2011 describing a 0.6" XGA OLED microdisplay - made by Samsung Mobile Display. The OLED-on-silicon device (Samsung calls them OLEDoS) used white OLEDs with color filters (all OLED displays made today use this architecture, although makers are moving towards direct emission). I don't think Samsung ever produced such displays, but apparently they did make some successful prototypes.

According to reports from Korea, Samsung finally decided to stay with direct-emission (RGB architecture) in its upcoming OLED TV. Samsung's managed to increase the production yields in their pilot line to 60%, and this will be enough to launch their first OLED TVs in July 1st, 2013.

Samsung is also expected to start investing in an 8-Gen OLED TV line soon. This new line, as we said, will produce direct-emission OLEDs. According to earlier reports Samsung did consider using LG's WRGB architecture because it's easier to produce.

Digital Versus managed to get a macro photo showing LG's WRGB OLED TV sub pixels. LG's structure uses four white sub pixels (made from yellow and blue emitters) with color filters on top: white (unfiltered), red, green and blue. As you can see from the photo, the white sub pixel is actually larger than the colored ones. The white sub pixel is added to increase brightness and efficiency.

LG's 55EM9700 OLED TV is now shipping in Korea for $10,000. It will arrive in Europe in July 2013 and some reports suggest that the US launch will be delayed to the 2nd half of 2013 as well.