OLED-Info newsletter

OLED Updates from Samsung

Samsung Electronics reported good Q2 2016 earning results - revenues reached $45 billion and operating profit was $7.17 billion, highest since Q1 2014. Samsung saw excellent mobile phone sales - mostly from its high-end Galaxy S7 and S7 edge phones. The Display segmented improved over the last quarter - led by increased OLED capacity utilization. SDC sees the stable earnings for OLEDs ahead, and the company said that the capital expenditure will be slightly higher in 2016 compared to 2015, and most of it will concentrate on OLED and V-NAND capacity as the company sees high demand for these components.

Samsung Display recently appointed a new chief, and reportedly the company is now changing direction to focus more on flexible OLEDs and dispose of some of the loss-making LCD business. According to a new report from Korea, SDC has decided to separate its OLED and LCD business divisions. This move is "expected to put the LCD business in further danger" as SDC is actually initiating an exit strategy for LCDs that are no longer promising - or profitable.

One possible solution for Samsung is for Samsung Electronics to acquire the LCD business - as it still needs those displays for its TVs. Samsung is looking at both QD-based TVs and OLED TVs for its future next-gen technology. During an industry conference in Korea, Kateeva's VP stated that Samsung Display will deploy the company's ink-jet printers in its OLED production lines in two years.

Samsung Display announced its 55" mirror and transparent OLED displays back in June 2015, and May 2016 SDC announced its first customer (a hair salon in Seoul) - with commercial shipments expected to begin in Q3 2016. TechRadar now claims that Samsung decided not to produce these transparent displays after all, because there was not enough demand to justify the investment. This is not confirmed yet, but it may be that Samsung could not make these displays at attractive enough prices due to low yields and high production costs. If Samsung ends up leaving the large transparent display market, perhaps LG will be able to kickstart it after all.

A couple of months ago Samsung also demonstrated smaller transparent and mirror OLEDs for the automotive market. These 7" are easier to produce compared to the large 55" panels, so hopefully Samsung will continue to develop those OLEDs, and eventually produce these commercially.

Xiamo's latest phone uses an EDO and BOE made AMOLED

Xiaomi launched a new entry-level smartphone, the Redmi Pro - with a 5.5" FHD AMOLED display. According to a report from China, that AMOLED is produced by two Chinese display makers - EverDisplay (the main supplier) and BOE Display.

Everdisplay (EDO) started mass producing 5" 720p AMOLED displays towards the end of 2014, and the company now offers several displays - including indeed a 5.5" one (EDO also produces and develops flexible OLEDs, OLEDs for VR, wearables and the the automobile market). BOE Display is producing AMOLED displays at 5.5-Gen LTPS OLED fab in Ordos. According to earlier reports, BOE was still struggling with low yields back in August 2015 - but these issues may have been overcome and the company is now ready to mass produce panels.

If this report is true, this is a good design win for these two Chinese OLED makers, especially for EDO. This may put some pressure on Samsung Display, although the Chinese producers' volume is still relatively low, and display quality and yields are probably not up to par with Samsung.

LG accelerates its flexible OLED project

LG Display admitted in early July that it is a "late comer" to the small/medium OLED display market. LGD now sees OLED displays going "mainstream" into the mobile device market (especially following Apple's decision to adopt the technology in future iPhones) and the company decided to expedite its investments towards flexible OLED production.

True to its word, on July 2016 LG announced that it will construct a new 6-Gen (1500x1850 mm) flexible OLED production line in Paju, South Korea. The investment in the new E6 line will total $1.7 billion USD, and the monthly capacity will reach 15,000 G6 substrates. The E6 line is scheduled to begin production in the second half of 2018.

LG currently produces plastic-based OLEDs in its Gen-4.5 fab (E2), with a monthly capacity of 14,000 substrates. LG Display's flexible AMOLEDs are used in LG's mobile phones (the G Flex 2), wearable devices (such as the Watch Urbane) and in Apple's Watch. In addition to the Gen-4.5 fab, LG Display is also investing $900 million to build a new 6-Gen flexible OLED fab, the E5 line - which 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, and LG already started to install equipment in that fab.

LG's E5 and E6 lines are located in the company's P9 plant in Paju. In November 2015, LGD announced that it will build a new OLED display plant in Paju - the P10 fab that will mainly make large-size OLED TV panels and flexible OLED panels. Total investment in the P10 plant will reach $8.7 - in several stages. The plant structure is already under construction.

RiT: demand for PMOLED displays rising

Taiwan's RiTDisplay, one of the world's leading PMOLED makers, is reportedly seeing strong demand for its OLED displays. According to a new report, the company's revenue reached $31.2 million in the first half of 2016, up 40% over the first half of 2015. PMOLED is seeing a rising demand in wearable devices - and other emerging applications.

In 2015, RiTDisplay shipped almost 85 million panels - 25% of the entire PMOLED market. RiT generated $50 million in revenues. The company plans to increase production by 20% by enhancing its production efficiency (not by acquiring new equipment). The company reportedly plans an IPO in Taiwan.

IHS: Mobile OLED shipments to double by 2017

IHS said that OLED display penetration rate in mobile phones will grow from 13% in 2015 to 34% in 2021, mostly due to the adoption of OLEDs by China-based phone makers (and probably from Apple's OLED iPhones as well). IHS further says that mobile OLED shipments, which totaled 257 million panels in 2015 will almost double by 2017 - to reach 455 million units. Shipments in 2016 will reach 367 million panels.

Updated OLED-Info market reports

In early July we published new versions of all our market reports - that cover the transparent, automotive, microdisplay, flexible and graphene 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 July 2016.

To find out more information and to download the latest reports, click here.

OLED-Info and DisplayMate launch a new display evaluation service

OLED-info is proud to announce a collaboration with world leading display testing, evaluation and optimization expert DisplayMate Technologies, in order to offer companies a series of custom tailored packages of advanced technical tests and reports for OLED display makers.

OLED-info and DisplayMate Technologies' combined expertise can help your company navigate today’s challenging competitive display market and reach optimal business, marketing, technical product and sourcing decisions based on important factors such as:

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Click here for more information and a list of available reports.

ETNews posted an interesting story, in which it is said that Chinese display makers are diverting investments away from LCD production and into flexible OLED production. ETNews lists BOE Display, CSoT, TianMa and Visionox - all bringing forward flexible OLED plans.

LG's curved 4K 2016 OLEDC6 now costs $3,799. The 55-inch model costs $2,799

The higher brightness of current LCDs seem to be favorable for HDR content. For SDR content, LG's OLED TV are still considered best

Japan's NHK's inverted OLED require almost no encapsulation - and works fine one year after it was fabricated

Researchers from Singapore demonstrated a flexible MRAM prottoype. MRAM is a next-gen spintronics-based memory device.

China's DeePoon is now shipping its M2 VR headset - with its 2560x1440 SDC-made AMOLED display

Lenovo's OLED laptop/tablet hybrd, the X1 Yoga is now shipping - starting at $1,400

Taiwan's AU Optrpnics had a good quarter as demand for TV displays starts to pick up. The company expects to ship over a million OLED panels in Q3.

The photonics-based solution provider reports over $240 million in new FPD orders - mostly for flexible OLED production systems

A large smartphone with a 6-inch FHD AMOLED display

Fujifilm's latest flagship mirrorless camera has an XGA OLED EVF

The company's first OLED TV uses 55/65 inch panels made by LG Display and will launch in September 2016

Metz's first OLED TV uses flat 4K 55/65 inch panels made by LGD. Metz's OLEDs will ship in September 2016.

An entry-level smartphone with a 5.5-inch FHD AMOLED display (reportedly produced in China)