The OLED-Info newsletter, February 2019
Published: Tue, 02/05/19
LG announces the world's first rollable OLED TV
LG Electronics announced its first rollable TV (and the world's first rollable OLED device), the 65" Signature OLED TV R. LG's new TV can roll up into its base, and has three viewing options - full view, line view and zero view. In Line View, there are six different modes, in which the TV can show the weather, the time, a home dashboard and more.
LG's OLED TV R, like the rest of LG's 2019 OLED range, is based on the company's 2nd-gen Alpha 9 intelligent processor the enables LG's ThinQ AI to offer new display algorithms and Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. The TV also features HDMI 2.1, high frame rate (HFR) support, enhanced audio return channel (eARC), variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). LG's flagship OLED also feature Dolby Atmos for immersive entertainment.
LG Did not yet disclose when the OLED TV R will be available, and for what price.
LG, Sony, Panasonic and Philips unveil new OLED TVs
LG Electronics announced its OLED TV lineup for 2019. LG's new OLED TVs will be powered by the company's 2nd-gen Alpha 9 intelligent processor and will offer its ThinQ AI. LG says that the new OLEDs will offer better image quality and sound quality based on the new AI capabilities and new algorithms. All the new TVs will also offer new implementation of Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant.
The top of the range will be the Z9 OLED TV based on LGD's latest large 8K 88" OLED panel. There's a new wallpaper model, the OLED W9, the midrange OLED E9 and the new OLED C9 which is LG's entry level OLED TV model.
Sony also announced its 2019 TV range, with two new OLED TVs. First up is the Master-Series A9G, that offers "consumer reference-quality image" and features Sony's X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster and an automated calibration mode (including a dedicated mode for Netflix). The second TV is the A8G.
Panasonic also unveiled its new flagship 2019 TV, the GZ2000, which will offer "extremely high image quality and color accuracy". Finally, Philips also teased its 2019 OLED TVs, the OLED804 and the OLED854.
Here come the OLED laptops
Samsung Display announced that it will start mass producing its new 15.6" UHD (3840x2160) OLED display panels in February 2019. SDC is targeting premium laptops, as these ultra high resolution panels are optimized for gaming, graphic design and video streaming.
At CES Three companies announced 15" OLED laptops - HP with its Spectre x360, Lenovo with the Yoga C730 and Dell with the XPS 15, Dell G7 15 and the Alienware m15. It is likely that at least some of these laptops will start shipping in March 2019 when SDC can start supplying the panels.
Samsung says that the new AMOLED panels, in addition to the very high resolution, feature high contrast ratio,extreme color accuracy, full HDR compatibility, a very wide color gamut, and remarkable outdoor visibility. The brightness level ranges from 0.0005 to 600 nits. Coupled with the high contrast (120,000:1), this maximizes the HDR benefits.
Samsung also says that the displays support the entire DCI-P3 color gamut - while emitting "significantly less blue wavelengths" compared to LCDs. Blue light emission can potentially be harmful to the eye.
Samsung has been producing laptop OLEDs in the past, but it seems that the company is finally confident that its new panels are really suitable for a larger part of the market, and hopefully we will see more laptop makers adopt OLEDs in the future - also in mid-range devices and not just high-end ones.
Xiaomi shows a prototype tri-foldable OLED smartphone
Wang Xiang, a senior vice president at Xiaomi published this short video in his Twitter account, showing a new Xiaomi prototype that uses a foldable OLED. The devices folds in two places.
This is a very nice demonstration, although of course we have no way of knowing how close this technology is to commercialization. Xiaomi says this is the world's first-ever double-folded phone (usually such OLEDs are referred to as tri-folded as they have three folded panels). This may be true, although we have seen such folded OLEDs in the past. Japan's Semiconductor Labs demonstrated touch-enabled tri-folded OLED prototypes as back as in 2014 (in collaboration with Nokia).
The supplier of the tri-foldable OLED panel is said to be Visionox.
OLED Market Updates
In January 2019, several market analysts posted interesting OLED market insights and forecasts:
Are these the GS10 OLED screens?
DSCC says that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 will come in three models:
- The Galaxy S10 Light will use a 5.75" 2340x1080 flexible AMOLED display
- The Galaxy S10 will sport a 6.11" 3120x1440 flexible AMOLED
- The Galaxy S10 Plus will sport a large 6.44" 3120x1440 flexible AMOLED
DSCC also details the production cost and panel price at SDC, for the large GS10+ 6.44" AMOLED display - and how it changed from Q1 2018 (with a forecast of up to Q4 2019).
WSJ: Apple to use OLEDs in all of its 2020 iPhones
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple plans to finally drop LCD from its iPhones in 2020 - and to use OLEDs in all of the models. WSJ also says that Apple plans to release an ambitious 2020 iPhone lineup with "a more flexible handset design".
The 2019 lineup will be an "iterative change" from the current Apple lineup - and will still use an LCD in the lower-end model. Apple's current 2018 OLED iPhones are the iPhone XS with its 5.8-inch 1125x2436 flexible notch-type AMOLED display (produced by Samsung Display) and the XS Max with a larger 6.5" 1242x2688 AMOLED.
OLED-Info releases new updates to its OLED market reports
In early January we published new versions of our market reports - that cover the flexible, VR/AR, microdisplays, automotive, PMOLED 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 January 2019.
Samsung showed a 219-inch signage tiled Micro-LED and a 75-inch consumer TV prototype
Taiwan-based INT Tech technology enables the production of 2,200 PPI OLED displays on glass
The new LCD display technology embeds an inner monochrome FHD LCD panel to increase contrast
During the company's recent conference call, LGD's CFO said that automotive pOLED revenues are expected before the end of 2019
LGD says that it will invest $7.1 billion in 2019 in capacity expansion, and $3.5 billion in 2020. It will divert all of its investments into OLED displays - with 60% going to large area OLED TV production and 40% going to small/medium pOLED production.
Dell demonstrated an Alienware gaming monitor that uses a 55-inch 4K 120Hz OLED display
The area-emitting peLEDs offer high electron mobility, good color purity, and easy color control.
The researchers say that the process and graphene materials can enable flexible, transparent and short-channel OFETs - which could be used in the future for OLED or OLET displays.
Lenovo's convertible notebook sports SDC's new 15.6-inch 4K touch AMOLED
HP's 2019 high-end Spectre x360 15 laptop features SDC's new 15.6-inch 4K AMOLED
Dell's high-end 15-inch laptops will feature optional OLED displays (SDC 15.6-inch 4K AMOLED)
The Cleer Mirage is a smart display speaker that features a 7.8-inch flexible AMOLED that is wrapped around the cylindrical speaker body
A premium VR headset with dual 2560x1440 VR OLED displays
A high-end tablet designed for movies and music with a 10.5-inch 2560x1600 Super AMOLED display
A new MMO gaming mouse that features a white 96x64 PMOLED display
The Meizu 16X is an android smartphone with a 6-inch 1080x2160 Super AMOLED display
nreal's AR glasses system is based on Sony's 0.7-inch FHD OLED microdisplays
A fashion smartwatch that features a 1.3-inch 390x390 AMOLED display
Panasonic's flagship 2019 TV will offer extremely high image quality and color accuracy
Sony's top-of-the-line A9G OLED TV offers consumer reference-quality image
Sony's mid-range 2019 OLED TV, the A8G, will be available in 55 and 65 inch.
The world's first rollable OLED device, LG's OLED TV R features a 65-inch WRGB 4K panel that rolls into its base
The Z9 is LG's top-of-the-line 88" 8K OLED TV
The OLEDW9 is LG's 2019 wallpaper OLED TV model (65 / 77 inch)
LG's mid-range picture-on-glass 2019 OLED TV (55 / 65 inch)
LG's basic OLED TV for 2019, the C9 will be available in 55, 65 and 77 inch.
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