OLED-Info newsletter

JOLED developed 12.2" and 19.3" printed OLEDs

JOLED announced that it developed two OLED panels, a 12.2" FHD (180 PPI) panel and a 19.3" 4K one (230 PPI) - made using printing technologies. JOLED aims to mass produce such panel in 2018. JOLED is preparing a Gen-4.5 fab to produce such OLEDs - probably using printing technologies. Reports from 2015 suggested that JOLED plans to invest $160 million in a new R&D and production facility - that will indeed commence production by 2018.

A couple of month ago we heard that Japan Display (JDI) aims to acquire JOLED. JDI was interested in Sharp's LCD division, originally, but Sharp finally decided to sell out to Foxconn. In 2015, it was reported that JOLED is in talks with Apple for a possible supply agreement for Apple's future iPAD devices.

Foxconn/Sharp to allocate $1.8 billion for OLED technology

Last month Sharp agreed to sell a two-thirds stake to Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision) for $3.5 billion. According to Digitimes Research, Foxconn and Sharp's post-acquisition focus will be on OLEDs, and out of the total investment $1.8 billion will be allocated for OLED technology.

Foxconn aims to start producing IGZO-based OLEDs for smartphones in 2018 (probably they aim to become Apple's 2nd OLED supplier) and then to start developing larger OLEDs too. Digitimes details Foxconn's plans - 3 million tablet/notebook panels in 2021 and 10.4 million panels in 2025. In 2021 Foxconn will also start producing OLED TV panels - 252,000 panels in 2021 and 7.2 million panels in 2025.

In early April Sharp demonstrated a new 3.4" bendable OLED prototype. The AMOLED display features a resolution of 540x960 (326 PPI), it has an aperture ratio of 57% and a thickness of 70um. The bending radius is 10mm, and the whole panel weighs 2 grams. The backplane is IGZO.

While this is reported as news, this panel seems to be quite similar to OLEDs Sharp unveiled at SID 2012 (yes, almost four years ago!). According to the reports, Sharp says that the display has a long lifetime and is "color shift free", as a result of newly developed tandem structure.

Yonhap: SDC to supply 100 million 5.5" OLEDs to Apple a year starting 2017

Last month ETNews reported that that Apple chose Samsung Display as the company's primary OLED supplier for its next-gen iPhone, and the two companies signed an official contract - with Flexible OLED supply for Apple's next iPhone to begin in 2017.

Korean-news agency Yonhap News now confirmed the story, and added some new details. This is still not official of course (SDC declined to comment), but according to Yonhap Samsung Display agreed to supply 100 million 5.5" AMOLED panels to Apple per year, for about $2.6 billion - with shipment starting to 2017. Apple will maintain this contract for at least three years.

If this report is true, this is great news for the OLED industry. Samsung produced around 200-250 million AMOLEDs in 2015, and adding 100 million 5.5" ones will increase its capacity dramatically. According to earlier reports, all those displays will be flexible AMOLEDs.

Samsung recently decided to double the capacity of its A3 flexible OLED line - the company placed orders worth around $325 million to increase capacity from 15,000 monthly substrates to 30,000. Samsung hopes the new capacity will be ready by early 2017. So at least capacity-wise, Samsung may be ready to supply a large amount of displays to Apple.

LG starts shipping new OLED TVs

During April LG Electronics started shipping three new 2016 OLED TVs. First up with have the 55" OLEDC6 curved TV, that is offered at $3,245. The OLED C6 is a curved 4K smart OLED TV that features LG's webOS 3.0, Color Prime PRO technology and HDR. LG will also release a 65" model later this year.

LG now offers the 55" OLEDE6, for $3,899. The E6 offers an ultra-slim on-glass design, a fixed soundbar, LG's webOS 3.0, Color Prime PRO technology and HDR. LG also offers the 65" model for $5,999.

LG to invest a further $275m in flexible OLED, updates on all OLED activities

LG Display announced that it plans to invest almost $275 million (310 billion Won) to build a new flexible OLED production line. This new investment is in addition to the planned E5 6-Gen (1500x1850 mm) flexible OLED fab announced in July 2015. The E5 line will cost $900 million, and will have a capacity of 7,500 monthly substrates - or 1.5 million 5.5" panels. The new fab is scheduled to begin mass production in the first half of 2017.

LG Display also updated on the other OLED projects. The Gen-6 flexible E5 line mentioned above is still on target for H2 2017. So is the P10 fab (for H1 2018) - although the exact production line setup has not been decided yet.

LGD says that it's still confident with its 1 million OLED TV target for 2016, and the company shipped less than 200,000 OLED TVs in Q1 (so less than in Q4 2015). The OLED TV business is still losing money, but LGD says it may turn profitable in 2017 (this depends on volume). Of its OLED TVs, about 70% are 55-inch in size (down from over 85% last year) - the rest are 65-inch.

LG is currently producing 34,000 substrates each month in its Gen-8 OLED TV fab. By H2 2017 this will increase to 60,000. This new capacity was announced back in in January 2016 - in a $380 million investment.

Coherent sees a massive shift from LCD to OLED production

In January 2016 Photonics-based solutions provider Coherent announced large (well in excess of $150 million) orders for its Linebeam systems which are used for laser annealing (turning a-Si into LTPS) for OLED producers. Coherent also said it has a significant number of orders pending for the remainder of 2016.

In the company's latest conference call, Coherent announced that the recent OLED capacity expansions generated more than $300 million of orders for Linebeam 1000, Linebeam 1500, and UV Blade systems in Q2 2016. The UV Blade is used for laser lift-off in flexible OLEDs. These systems will be delivered to end customers in South Korea, Japan and China.

Coherent says that it sees a large buildup of OLED capacity. The company currently estimates that about 80% of LTPS mobile displays are LCDs, and 20% are AMOLEDs. But by 2019 this will be inverted as AMOLEDs will represent 80% of the production capacity. It's not clear if Coherent CEO means total capacity or new installed capacity in 2019, but in any case he is "very excited about the OLED ramp".

A new OLED-Info market report, Graphene for the Display and Lighting industries

We're happy to announce a new market report, Graphene for the Display and Lighting industries. This report, brought to you by the world's leading OLED and Graphene experts, is a comprehensive guide to the applications of graphene in these two important markets. Graphene is an exciting material that promises to revolutionize entire industries - as it provides unprecedented conductivity, heat conduction, flexibility and strength. Graphene has a bright future in the display and lighting industries.

Get the report now for $299.99 (single-user license), and $999.99 for an enterprise license - which can be shared with your entire organization. You can find out more information and download the report here.

Reports from Korea suggest that SDC will start producing foldable OLEDs in late 2016 and Samsung will release a foldable smartphone in 2017

Audi's TT RS 2016 is the world's first car with OLED taillights

ITR's new line will be operative by 2017 and will produce 700 panels per month on flexible glass substrates

The prototype device has a 5.2-inch graphene-based screen, click above to read our analysis of this prototype display

According to the new report, Samsung will start constructing a new Gen-8 fab in Q3 2016. Initial investment is estimated at $2-3 billion.

Skyworth launched two new families of 4K OLED TVs, using WRGB panels made by LGD

Using patterned hierarchical structures, researchers were able to increase light extraction efficiency by 60%

Read Organic Light's OLED report from the Light and Building tradeshow, detailing the OLED panels, lamps and installations shown at the event.

IHS sees 395 million AMOLEDs shipped in 2016 (this seems a bit optimistic) - an increase of 40% compared to 2015. Revenues will increase by 25% to reach $15 billion. IHS says that AMOLED is becoming the shiniest spot in the flat-panel display industry.

According to IDTechEx, OLED lighting exhibits key characteristics of a disruptive technology, and it can create new markets that value large areas emission, light-weight and flexibility.

LG Display announced it will build a $100 million OLED TV module assembly factory in Vietnam

Samsung announce good financial results, and SDC saw its OLED earnings improved, driven by increased shipments

The Pro 6 is a smartphone that features a 5.2-inch FHD Super AMOLED display and 3D press.

The PVM-X550 is Son'y largest professional OLED monitor at 55-inch. Other features include 12-bit signal processing, HDR and 4K resolution.

Lenovo's flagship phone for 2016 sports a 5.2-inch FHD Super AMOLED display and a fast Snapdragon 820 chipset