The OLED-Info newsletter, May 2020
Published: Tue, 06/02/20
More delays at LGD's Guangzhou OLED fab
LG Display's original plan was to start producing OLED TV panels at its 8.5-Gen OLED fab in Guangzhou in October 2019, but the company faced technical issues, pushed back production to the end of January 2020 - but fixing these issues took longer than expected.
The CoronaVirus outbreak caused LGD further delays, and mass production was again delayed to 'early' Q2 2020. The latest news from Korea suggests that now LGD has pushed back production in the Guangzhou fab to Q3 2020. The cause of these delays, is again yield issues, slow engineering work due to the Coronavirus isolation - and lower demand in the market (which seems to suggest that LGD is not in a rush to begin production).
LGD's original plan was to ship over 6 million OLED TV panels in 2020 - which include the smaller 48" OLED TV panels launched at CES 2020. It seems highly likely that LGD will not be able to meet its goals. In its latest note, DSCC sees 4.5 million OLED TV panels being produced in 2020, while Omdia's forecast is for only 3.5 million TVs. With the latest delays in Guangzhou, it will be good if LGD will be able to meet these lower targets.
OLED Market Updates
During May, several analysts updated their forecasts for the OLED market, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were also some interesting updates from OLED supply chain companies:
- Omdia sees 73 million foldable AMOLEDs displays shipped in 2025
- The OLED TV market - quick market snapshot
- LG expects a 10% decline in OLED TV panel shipments in Q2 2020
- DSCC - OLED material sales will grow from $951 million in 2019 to $2.69 billion in 2024
- IHS: rollable OLEDs will remain a niche, unit shipments will reach 1.3 million by 2026
- UBI lowers its 2020 OLED industry forecast due to the Coronavirus
- DSCC details the iPhone 12 screens and OLED suppliers
- MagnaChip reports an increase in AMOLED driver sales
- Riber says there is a lack of investments in the OLED industry
- Samsung Electronics reports good results in Q1 2020, warns of a weaker quarter ahead
Who will supply OLEDs to Apple's iPhone 12?
Apple is said to be releasing an all-OLED iPhone range in 2020, with four new smartphones - the the iPhone 12 (5.4"), iPhone 12 Max (6.1"), iPhone 12 Pro (6.1") and iPhone 12 Pro max (6.7"). There are conflicting reports regarding the suppliers of Apple's OLED panels.
The Elec reports that Apple ordered around 55 million AMOLED panels for its iPhone 12 smartphone series, which will be announced later this year. LG Display will supply around around 20 million AMOLEDs - which is a big increase from the 5 million OLEDs LGD supplied for Apple's previous generation phones. According that that report, LG will supply the panels for the iPhone 12 Max (6.1-inch) while Samsung will supply to all the other models.
DSCC, however, says that Apple will add BOE as a third supplier. Like The Elec, they agree that LGD will supply 6.1-inch AMOLEDs to the iPhone 12 Max, but BOE will also supply 5-10 million such panels to the same model. Samsung will supply to the rest of the phones. Read more about DSCC's estimates here!
OLED Microdisplay market updates
The Microdisplay market is heating up, as consumer AR is being developed (but probably 3-4 years away, still). Here are the latest OLED microdisplay news:
A Q&A with Wisechip's Vice President of R&D
WiseChip Semiconductor, based in Taiwan, is one of the world's leading PMOLED maker (in fact in 2015 Wisechip said it's the world's second largest). Wisechip is developing next-generation PMOLED displays, including flexible panels, transparent panels and Hyperfluorescence/TADF PMOLEDs.
We posted an interview with Wisechip's VP of R&D, Dr. York Tsai - to discuss the company's latest panels and business.
The OLED TV market
In May we posted an article, an extract from The OLED Handbook, 2020 edition, that gives a short introduction to the current OLED TV market status. In this article we discuss the different companies that develop OLED TV panels and the latest forecasts.
MicroLED Microdisplays
In May we also posted an article, an extract from The MicroLED Handbook, 2020 edition, that gives a short introduction to the current market status of MicroLED Microdisplays. We discuss the different companies in this space, and their latest prototypes and developments.
ePaper displays in 2020
Most people when they think about ePaper displays immediate think about E Ink. E Ink Holdings (EIH) has been indeed very successful in bringing its electrophoretic displays to the market, but the company is not alone - there are other display technologies and many companies that develop ePaper displays - including MIP LCDs, competing electrophoretic displays and Electrochromic displays.
Our sister site E-Ink-Info published an interesting article that details the current state of the ePaper market and its main players. Read it here!
UDC will supply a license and its PHOLED materials to TCL subsidiary China Star Optoelectronics (CSoT)
We now list EDO's 1.78-inch 368x448 AMOLED wearable display
While the company and its market are effected by the Corona Virus, UDC had an excellent quarter
Sony started shipping its 2020 OLED TV range, the Bravia A8H. The 55-inch model's price is $2,299 while the 65-inch one is $3,299
The m15 R3 is a high-end gaming laptop with an optional 15.6-inch 4K 60Hz AMOLED display
Sharp's first OLED TV, the CQ1 uses LGD's 55-inch 65-inch 4K WOLED panels
An Android 5G smartphone with a 6.8-inch 1080x2460 HDR P-OLED display
An Android smartphone with a 6.6-inch 1080x2340 90Hz 700-nits HDR Super AMOLED display
A 5G smartphone with a 6.57-inch 1080x2400 600-nits AMOLED display
A high-end smartphone with a 6.67-inch 1080x2400 500-nits Super AMOLED display
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