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LG accelerates its OLED drive

It was a busy month for LG's OLED unit. First up, both LG Display and LG Electronics demonstrated many OLED panels at CES 2016. We'll begin with LG's 2016 OLED TV lineup, which was unveiled at the trade show. The 2016 OLED lineup includes four new OLED TV series, and all of them feature 4K panels (flat and curved), Web OS 3, HDR and LG's Color Prime PRO technology and an improved color range and brightness compared to the 2015 models.

LG's high end module in 2016 is the Signature G6 - an ultra-slim on-glass design that uses a high-end pivoting speakers. The 65" G6 will launch towards the end of February 2016 (reports say the price will be $7,999 although this is not confirmed) while the 77" model will launch a new months later. Prices were not announced yet. Next up we have the E6 series, which feature a similar design but with fixed soundbar, and available in 55" and 65" inches. The 65" E6 TV will ship by March and will cost $6,999. Finally, we have the lower-end (as it were) 55" and 65" flat (the B6 series) and curved (the C6 series) OLED TVs. These TVs have a more "traditional" design, and LG did not yet reveal when those TVs will ship, or at what price. The B6 is the only new LG OLED TV that does not support 3D.

LG Display demonstrated many OLED panels: a 18" rollable prototype, 12.3" FHD flexible OLEDs for automotive applications, a 55-inch FHD transparent OLED and more.

A few weeks after CES, LG announced their financial results for Q4 2015, with an operating profit of $300 million from sales of $12.5 billion. LG saw improved OLED TV sales in the fourth quarter, in fact LGD says they shipped 400,000 OLED TV panels in 2015 and 200,000 in Q4 alone. In 2016 the company aims to sell over a million panels.

In a different announcement, LG Display said that it will invest $380 million to expand its OLED TV production capacity. LGD will convert an existing LCD production line to OLED production. The investment will begin in Q1 2016 and will be completed by Q2 2017. The new line will produce 25,000 monthly substrates (adding to LGD's current 34,000 monthly capacity). In August 2015 LG Display announced plans to invest around $8.5 billion in OLED capacity in the next three years as the company shifts its focus to OLED displays. Later in November LGD announced that it will build a new OLED display plant in Paju, Korea. The P10 fab will mainly make large-size OLED TV panels and flexible OLED panels. The total investment in the P10 plant is estimated at KRW10 trillion ($8.7 billion USD).

Here comes the OLED monitors and laptops

OLED enthusiasts have been waiting for years for OLED laptops and OLED monitors. Even though there are some technical difficulties in using OLEDs for these applications, it seems that 2016 will finally be the year where these devices start to enter the market. During the CES 2016 event in the beginning of January, six upcoming OLED laptops and monitors have been revealed.

So first up we have Lenovo, with the X1 Yoga laptop-tablet hybrid. The X1 Yoga is equipped with a 14" 2550x1440 display - LCD in the lower models and OLED in the higher-end ones. The hybrid configuration goes up to Core i7 CPUs, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage. The laptop weighs 1.27 Kg. The basic X1 Yoga starts at $1,449 (with an LCD) - the OLED model will be released in April 2016 - price hasn't been announced yet. HP also announced a similar product - a model of the popular Spectre X360 hybrid laptop/tablet that comes with a 13.3" 2560x1600 AMOLED display. The OLED variant will ship by the spring of 2016.

Another interesting new laptop is Dell's Alienware OLED 13 R2 - which uses a 13" 2560x1440 AMOLED display.The Alienware OLED 13 laptop will ship in April 2015 starting at $1,499. According to Alienware, the OLED model will cost exactly the same as the LCD model. A CNet reporter tried out the new OLED laptop, and says that it provides gorgeous colors, and super fast refresh rate which is very important in fast paced games. CNet says that the OLED feels like looking through a window - it is so realistic. As he says - "after seeing that, I think it might be hard for me to buy a gaming laptop that doesn't have an OLED screen".

On the monitor front, Dell launched a new high monitor, the Ultrasharp 30 OLED. This high-end monitor adopts a 30" 4K OLED panel and features a 0.1 ms response time, 100% AdobeRGB, narrow-bezel design and USB-C connection. The UltraSharp 30 OLED will ship by the end of March 2015 for $4,999. Dell said that it developed special technologies to compensate for image-burn in and the relatively short OLED lifetime

Samsung Display is producing all those OLEDs, so Samsung Electronics was also bound to release a device with a larger OLED - and indeed the company announced a new Windows 10 convertible hybrid tablet, the Galaxy TabPro S - that features a 12" 2160x1440 AMOLED display, an Intel Core m3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 128/256 GB SSD drive. The TabPro S will launch in February 2015, with optional keyboard cover and Bluetooth pen. Prices hasn't been announced yet.

Foldable tablets and OLED TVs from Samsung soon?

According to HSBC, Samsung will attempt to introduce their first foldable OLED smartphone in the second half of 2016. Samsung's earlier plan was to release it in 2017.

Samsung's original plan was to release a foldable phone in 2015, but this obviously will not happen. Market research company IHS actually expects Samsung to release the first foldable phone in early 2016. The OLED Association also expects Samsung to show a foldable smartphone, but only as a prototype or "near-production" model.

SDC is not just developing flexible panels, though. According to ETNews, SDC is under pressure from the LCD business, and is expected to make a final decision regarding a future OLED TV panel production facility investment. According to Digitimes, SDC have resolved the technological issues that previously resulted in low production yields, but there are still many challenges before mass production is possible. SDC confirmed that it will proceed with projects for the development of large-sized OLED displays, although the company's focus remains on small-sized OLEDs.

JDI to start mass producing OLEDs in 2018

Japan Display's research center chief, Akio Takimoto, says that JDI will begin producing OLED panels in 2018. JDI will take advantage of their advanced TFT technology as it aims to catch up with Samsung and LG.

JDI probably aims for 2018 following many reports that Apple aims to start adopting OLEDs in that year's iPhone models. Apple is reportedly already in talks with Samsung and LG as they need to secure a huge amount of production capacity - but it's likely that Apple will prefer teaming up with JDI over its Korean smartphone rivals. Different reports actually claim that Apple is looking to invest in Taiwan's AU Optronics to help it become a major OLED supplier

Coherent reports massive ELA systems orders for OLED production

Photonics-based solutions provider Coherent announced their financial results for Q4 2015, which were below estimates, but the company reported high bookings, mostly for its Linebeam systems which are used for laser annealing (turning a-Si into LTPS) for OLED producers. Last quarter Coherent reported that they shipped their third $20-million Linebeam 1500 OLED ELA system in the quarter. Back then Coherent expected substantial new OLED orders in 2016 and now they confirm that. Coherent reports that they received a large (well in excess of $150 million) for OLED systems - and they have a "significant number" of orders pending for the balance of the second quarter and for the remainder of fiscal 2016. Deliveries of the new systems will begin in June 2016 and will run through 2017.

We know that Coherent supplies ELA systems to Samsung Display for its AMOLED production lines. Coherent says that the new orders are for OLED makers based in Korea, Japan and China - and the systems will be used to produce mobile displays and not TV panels. This is not a surprise as currently OLED TV production at LG Display is based on Oxide-TFTs and not LTPS.

Audi's 2016 TT RS coupe to use OLED taillights

Audi has yet to unveil the 2016 Audi TT RS coupe, but according to new reports the car will use OLED taillights. The Audi TT RS is a high-end car but is serially produced. In fact, if this report is true, the 2016 TT RS will be the first serial-produced car with OLED lighting. In September 2015 BMW announced that they are starting to produce the M4 GTS at very limited quantities - and this car has OLED lighting too. But only 700 such cars will be produced.

Audi has been playing with OLED technologies for a long time. Back in 2012 they unveiled three OLED lighting designs, and in 2013 they unveiled 3D OLED lighting Audi TT taillight prototypes (developed with Philips and Merck). Several of the company's latest concept cars, such as the 2014 Prologue and the 2015 e-tron Quattro adopted OLED displays and lighting technologies.

OLED-Info's market reports updated to January 2016

In early January, we published new version of all of our market reports, that cover cover the transparent, automotive, microdisplay and flexible OLED markets. OLED-Info provides comprehensive niche OLED market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about the niche market, and can be useful if you want to understand how the OLED industry works and what this technology can provide for your own industry. The reports are now updated to January 2016.

Read more here.

According to a report from Korea, Kolon decided to close its OLED subsidiary following $84 million in losses since 2000

OLED-Info posted an interview with Idemitsu Kosan's electronic material's chief that talks about the company's OLED business and technology

Panasonic unveiled its 65" curved OLED TV in September 2015, and now it announced it will be sold in the US too

The analysts at the OLED Association says 2015 was a great year for the OLED industry - and they posted some interesting projections for next year!

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin signed a non-exclusive IP licensing agreement with an undisclosed company

Pioneer aims to embed transparent OLED based brake lights in the rear windows of future cars to increase the field of view

The total printed and flexible automotive electronics market will grow from $400 million to $5.5 billion in 2026

Magnachip says that most of these AMOLED drivers went to smartphones, but the company also supplies drivers to cameras and tablets

The VT headset market is expected to grow quickly in coming years, and OLED makers should take notice as most of these devices may well adopt OLED displays

The first commercial release of Oculus' VR headset uses a 2160x1200 (1800x1200 per eye) AMOLED display

The world's first ''consumer'' OLED monitor has a 30-inch 4K panel and will cost $4,999 when it ships in March 2016

A laptop-tablet hybrid with a 14-inch 2550x1440 AMOLED display

A Windows 10 convertible hybrid tablet with a 12-inch 2160x1440 AMOLED display

HP adds an OLED variant (13.3-inch 2560x1600) to its popular hybrid laptop/tablet series

A high-end gaming laptop that uses a 13-inch 2560x1440 AMOLED display

Vivo's newest affordable smartphones use a 5.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display

A premium rangefinder-style mirrorless camera with an XGA OLED EVF

A high-end classic-looking mirrorless camera with an XGA OLED EVF