OLED-Info newsletter

Samsung's GS9 has the world's best ever mobile display

Samsung introduced its Galaxy S9 flagship phone a couple of days ago, with its flexible 5.8" 1440x2960 (570 PPI) Super AMOLED display (6.2", 529 PPI, on the S9 Plus). Display measurement experts from DisplayMate tested the new display (with a pre-production GS9), and published a comprehensive report.

As expected, Samsung continues to improve its OLED displays, and the GS9 again is announced by DisplayMate to be the world's best ever mobile display, better than the iPhone X OLED.

The display may appear to be very similar to the OLED used in Samsung's 2017 Galaxy S8, but Samsung did implement some major display performance improvements. DisplayMate explains that in the GS9 Samsung concentrated on significantly enhancing and optimizing the on-screen absolute picture quality and absolute color accuracy of the OLED display by implementing precision factory display calibration. The GS9 matches or sets several display records, including absolute color accuracy that is visually indistinguishable from perfect, and the smallest shifts in brightness and color with viewing angles. The GS9 is also 20% brighter than the Galaxy S8, and it earned DisplayMate's highest ever A+ grade.

There are conflicting reports from Korea regarding the initial sales of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone. One news outlet suggested that pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 in Korea are 30% lower compared to the pre-orders of the Galaxy S8 in 2017. A second report, however, says that Samsung believes it will sell more Galaxy S9 phones than it did with the GS8. According to this report, Samsung told its suppliers that its target is to sell 43 million GS9 (and GS9 plus) phones in 2018. In 2017, Samsung shipped 41 million GS8 and GS8 plus phones.

OLED Lighting news

In March Germany hosted the bi-annual Light+Building tradeshow, and several companies announced interesting OLED lighting news. First we have OLEDWorks, which announced two new OLED lighting panels, the rigid Lumiblade Brite 3 panels and the BendOLED flexible ones. The Brite 3 OLEDs are more efficient than OLEDWorks' current Brite 2 OLEDs, offering an efficiency of up to 85 lm/W and up to 300 lumens brightness as before. These Lumiblade panels will be produced at OLEDWorks' Aachen production site.OLEDWorks has also officially launched its flexible OLEDs, branded as BendOLEDs, based on Corning's Willow Glass substrate and encapsulation glass. For more information on these new OLEDWorks panels, click here.

LG Display also demonstrated many of its OLED lighting panels, and also introduced its Crystal Sound OLED technology (unveiled in early 2017 for its OLED displays) for its OLED lighting panels. This technology turns the OLED lighting panel itself into a speaker.

Sumitomo exhibited several new OLED lighting fixtures and lamps. Sumitomo's OLEDs use the company's P-OLED materials. Merck, together with OLEDWorks, brought its textile-based "Do We Dream Under The Same Sky" OLED+OPV installation to Frankfurt as well.

Finally, on March 20 ten Germany-based companies established a new OLED lighting alliance, called the "OLED Licht Forum" that aim to develop and promote OLED lighting technologies through dialogue and expert exchange. The forum, founded by OLEDWorks, OSRAM, Merck, BASF coatings, EMDE, Fraunhofer and others, will also organize conferences, lectures and institution visits.

LG starts shipping its 2018 OLED TVs

LG introduced its 2018 OLED TV lineup in January 2018, and in March LG announced the pricing of these new TVs, and started shipping one of the models - the 55" OLEDC8, which officially costs $2,999 but is now shipping on Amazon for $2,500 (note: affiliate link).

The 77" OLEDC8 will cost $9,999 and the 65" model will cost $3,999. LG's flagship 77" Wallpaper OLEDW8 will cost $14,999, and LG will also ship a 65" model, but it did not detail the price yet. The OLED-on-glass OLEDE8 will cost $4,499 for the 65" model and $3,499 for the 55" model. LG did not yet reveal the price of the its entry-level OLED TV, the OLEDB8. LG will start shipping the rest of its 2018 lineup in during April.

OLED Market status updates

DSCC announced that it sees low AMOLED fab utilization ahead at SDC, following the lower-then-expected iPhone X sales. The weaker-than-expected 2018 will move OLED makers to delay and cancel new OLED fab expansion plans, and DSCC lowered its outlook for 2018 by 22% and expects total OLED revenues to be $30.3 billion (still up 30% from 2017). Looking further ahead to 2022, DSCC sees the market growing at a CAGR of 23% (down from its earlier estimates of 27%). In 2022 the total OLED market will reach $64.3 billion in revenues (down from its earlier estimates of $79.6 billion).

IHS estimates that SDC and LGD will halt their OLED capacity expansion in 2018, but will resume adding capacity in 2019. Meanwhile China-based makers will continue their fast expansion plans in 2018-2020, and total AMOLED production capacity in China will grow from 228,000 sqm in 2016 to 8.3 million sqm in 2020, that's a CAGR of 145% (!). Interestingly IHS sees no real OLED production in Japan at least until 2020.

IHS also estimates that OLED materials revenues reached $355 million in the second half of 2017, up 20% from the first half of the year. This followed a year and a half of stagnation in revenues (sale volume increased, but this was offset by price reductions). IHS expects the OLED materials market to continue growing in the near future, and revenues in the 2020 will reach about $1.5 billion. The growth will be driven by further Apple OLED adoption and increased OLED TV production. DSCC's own material market estimates are higher than IHS' for 2017.

Will SDC produce OLED TVs at its A5 site?

Samsung's OLED fabs are currently under utilized - with some analysts estimating that its flexible OLED fabs are running at about 50% capacity following lower-than-expected orders from Apple. SDC also decided to delay its upcoming A5 production fab.

This is a lot of wasted capacity. Last month I speculated that SDC may target new applications for its OLEDs - including monitors and laptops - or perhaps transparent OLEDs as well. According to a new report from Korea, SDC may be aiming to start constructing an A5 line - but use it to produce large-area OLED TV panels. According to a financial analyst, Samsung recently assembled a new OLED TV team with 300 R&D employees.

According to an ETNews report from February, SDC's OLED TVs will be combine OLED emitters with quantum-dot photo-luminescence materials. The basic idea is to use blue OLED emitters and then convert the blue light to white light using quantum-dots combined with color filters (QDCFs) to add red and green colors.

Samsung itself denied these rumors - saying that it still commits to two other technologies for the premium TV market: QD-enhanced LCDs and Micro-LEDs.

New OLED introduction video

We published a short OLED explanation video, which we believe gives a nice introduction to OLED technology and to the current market status:

Google and LGD developed a 1443 PPI 120Hz VR AMOLED

In May 2017, Google announced that it has partnered with "one of the leading OLED makers" to develop a high-end VR display. Google is now set to demonstrate this display at SID 2018 in May.

The new Google-designed display is a 4.3" 18Mp (1443 PPI, probably around 5500x3000 resolution) VR display featuring a refresh rate of 120 Hz. This will be the highest-density OLED display ever (not counting OLED-on-silicon microdisplays). Current VR AMOLEDs in production reach only about 600 PPI.

A 1,443 PPI is highly impressive for a 4.3" AMOLED. In May 2016 Samsung publicly demonstrated 5.5" 806 PPI OLEDs, and according to reports Samsung were able to produce a 1,200 PPI AMOLED in March 2017. The company's goal is to reach 1,500 PPI, and as we said SDC's current OLED in actual production reach only 600 PPI. One way to reach such high densities in FMM processes was suggested in November 2016 by Sunic Systems with its plane-source evaporation process that can reach very high densities.

But it turns out that Google's partner is actually LG Display, who will be presenting this display technology alongside Google. Google already uses LGD's displays in its Pixel 2 XL smartphone, and in 2017 it was reported that Google wants to invest $872 million in LG Display in order to secure flexible OLED capacity from the Korean OLED maker. In March 2017 LG Electronics announced that it is developing a new VR headset that uses dual 3.64" 1440x1280 (529 PPI) 90Hz OLED displays, produced by LGD.

Printed Electronics Europe: Where Suppliers Meet End Users

The following is a sponsored post by IDTechEx

An estimated 2,500 people will attend Printed Electronics Europe, part of the world’s largest series of events on printed, flexible and hybrid electronics, which will be held on 11-12 April at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin. The unique focus of the event is to speed up the adoption of printed electronics by bringing together end users with suppliers across the value chain. Presentations from end users will cover their progress and use cases involving the technology, with speakers from a variety of global organizations representing different industry verticals.

For more details see www.PrintedElectronicsEurope.com.

The OLED Handbook, 2018 edition

We are happy to announce the eighth edition of The OLED Handbook, the most comprehensive resource on OLED technology, industry and market - now updated for 2018. The OLED industry grows and changes very fast, and the new edition include new details on the OLED mobile display market, new production fabs in China, OLED TVs, flexible OLEDs and more.

Reading this book, you'll learn all about:

• OLED technology and materials and production processes
• How OLEDs compare to LCD displays
• OLED TVs, flexible OLEDs and transparent OLEDs
• The OLED lighting industry
• The future of OLED displays and lighting and the challenges ahead

The book also provides:

• A history of OLED development
• A guide to OLED investment
• A comprehensive list of OLED companies
• A list of existing and planned AMOLED fabs
• OLED lighting roadmaps
• An in-depth look into flexible OLEDs and OLED encapsulation

The OLED handbook has been read by hundreds of display engineers, business developers, researchers, equipment vendors, OLED material companies, private investors and others who wished to learn more about OLEDs today and in the future. We truly believe that it is the best introduction to OLED displays and lighting!

Perovskite materials offer exciting properties which make them useful for solar panels, fuel cells, lasers - and even displays. Our new short video introduces these interesting materials.

The new A8 has OLED rear lights, and we now learn it also is the first car to adopt an automotive AMOLED - with an SDC 5.7" FHD AMOLED in the rear seat remote

BOE officially announced its plans to construct its third line in Chongqing's Liangjiang New District. BOE's new$7.3 billion fab will have a monthly capacity of 48,000 6-Gen substrates. Construction time will take 28 months, which means the new fab will be able to begin production in H2 2020.

According to reports, Juhua Printing using 6-Gen substrate which are cut in half for the organic layer ink-jet deposition which is done at 4.5-Gen

According to Bloomberg Apple is making good progress in its Micro-LED development project, and has managed to produce promising display samples.

Asahi Glass developed an ultra-thin chemically strengthened 0.07 mm flexible glass that is suitable to use this as a cover glass for foldable devices

Taiwan's NTHU researchers say that this new material is the world's most efficient TADF emitter at high brightness.

A new report from Taiwan suggests that Sharp already converted some of its 4.5-Gen LCD capacity in Taki to OLED production

ETRI will detail this new graphene-based OLED panel at SID DisplayWeek 2018

A new report from Taiwan suggests that Apple does plan to upgrade its OLED iPhone X in 2018

Visionox says that even after 200,000 folding cycles, the display still showed good reliability.

Japanese autopart market Denso invests $280 million in JOLED and will hold a 15% stake

AUO developed a 13-inch 100 PPI transparent (68%) OLED display, specifically for AR applications

According to a new report, Mercedes-Benz is planning to adopt LGD's flexible OLED displays starting with some of the Mercedes E Class models it will release in H1 2020

Vivo's latest flagship phone has a 6.28-inch 1080x2280 notch-type Super AMOLED. The X21 UD has a fingerprint sensor under the OLED.

Oppo's new flagship phone sports a 6.28-inch 1080x2280 notch-type Super AMOLED display

Huawei's lartest flagship phone has a 6.1-inch 1080x2244 notch-type AMOLED display

The Bild X is a modular high-end OLED TV with a beautiful design. The TV is still in development but will hopefully be released by the end of 2018