OLED-Info newsletter

LG's Guangzhou fab starts production

Reports from korea suggest that LGD finally started to produce OLED panels in the Guangzhou fab. LGD's new fab is now making 48-inch OLED TV panels, and LGE's 48-inch TVs have finally started shipping in Europe. 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 following some technical issues , production was pushed back, several times

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

Here are the latest OLED market updates:

• DSCC: OLED revenues in Q1 2020 were $6.7 billion, will reach $33 billion in 2020
• CLSA says SDC faced a sharp decline in OLED demand in Q1 2020, sees meaningful growth in Q3
• UBI: Samsung Display updates its A3 fab to support LTPO and Y-OCTA
• DSCC sees a sharp recovery in OLED fab utilization in Q3 2020

TCL invests $187 million in JOLED, to jointly-develop OLED TV inkjet printing technologies

JOLED announced that TCL CSoT has invested 20 billion Yen (around $187 million USD) in the company, and has also signed an agreement to jointly develop OLED TV printing technologies.

This is a very interesting development. TCL has been a long time believer in inkjet printing for OLED displays, and the company has established Juhua Printing in 2016 (together with TianMa and other collaborators) as an "open-innovation platform" to develop ink-jet printing of OLED panels. JOLED was not involved as far as we know in this alliance - so has TCL given up on Juhua and is now aiming to rely on JOLED's technology?

JOLED has been focused on medium-sized displays (for monitors, automotive and signage), and in December 2018 JOLED demonstrated its first OLED TV prototype, a 55" 4K (3840x2160, 80 PPI) panel that offers a 120Hz refresh rate and a color gamut of 100% DCI (135% sRGB). The OLED panel was printed on JOLED's Transparent Amorphous Oxide Semiconductor (TAOS) backplane. In 2018 JOLED told us that it has no plans to produce large size OLEDs at this stage - and this TV is on display just to demonstrate JOLED's printing technology, but now obviously this has changed.

In December 2017 JOLED started commercial low-volume production of its 21.6" 4K OLED panels, at the company's pilot 4.5-Gen line, and in November 2019 the company announced that it has started sampling inkjet-printed OLED display panels in its 5.5-Gen (1300x1500 mm) production line in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Mass production at the Nomi fab is planned for later in 2020.

BOE starts shipping a 0.71-inch FHD OLED Microdisplay

In March 2017 OLED maker BOE Technology and OLED microdisplay maker OLiGHTEK announced a new joint-venture to produce OLED microdisplays for the consumer VR and AR markets. In September 2019 BOE started shipping a 0.39" Full-HD (1920x1080, 5644 PPI) one, and the company now started shipping a larger 0.71" Full-HD panel as well.

We are happy to report that this new high-quality display is already listed at the OLED Marketplace, and we have access to this display at a relatively low cost. Contact us if you are interested in this display. We also list BOE's 0.39" FHD panel.

BOE failed to pass Samsung's and Apple's OLED quality tests

Earlier this year, reports from Korea suggested that Samsung Electronics is looking to order some OLED panels from China's BOE - including for its flagship S21 smartphone to be announced later this year.

A new report from Korea's DDaily suggests that BOE failed to pass Samsung's display quality test. Samsung Electronics is likely to retain Samsung Display (partly owned by SE) as an exclusive AMOLED supplier for its 2020-2021 smartphones. Read more about this here!

Visionox launches the world's first OLED to support an under-the-display camera

Chinese OLED producer Visionox launched a new under-the-OLED camera technology, branded as InV See - which is the world's first such display. The main application for this technology is to enable a selfie camera in a full-screen OLED smartphone.

InV See utilizes a transparent section in the OLED display that allows a camera to be placed behind it. Visionox says that for this technology it developed a new pixel structure, new driver circuits and used new materials. It is not certain, but it seems as if this technology actually utilizes two OLED screens seamlessly tiled together - the regular main screen with a top bar that is made from a second, transparent OLED.

Other OLED makers are also developing similar technologies. Samsung, in 2018, announced it is working on several behind-the-OLED sensors, including a camera - but the company says this technology will not be commercialized before 2022.

LGD says that the goal of this project is to develop stretchable display products with a 20% elongation rate by 2024.

JOLED says that Samsung infringed on its OLED patents without a license

Our sister site, Perovskite-Info, posted an interview with Helio's CEO who discusses the company's technology and business

The OLED taillights are built from three OLED panels, each with six segments. Audi offers three different signatures or designs, which the customers can choose from when buying the Q5.

According to reports from India, Samsung is looking to establish a smartphone OLED display manufacturing fab in India

The award was granted under the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program for OLED Supply Chain Assurance.

Reports suggest that Samsung Electronics will adopt a CSoT flexible OLED in the Galaxy M41 smartphone

The researchers say that the MXene electrodes are much more flexible than ITO electrodes and this material could hold the key towards highly flexible transparent conductive display electrodes.

Vizio's first OLED TVs feature 55-inch / 65-inch 4K 120Hz WOLED panels

The Vivo X50 smartphone family uses 6.56-inch 1080x2376 90Hz/120Hz AMOLED displays

A fitness band with a 1.2-inch 126x296 AMOLED display

Panasonic's entry-level OLED TVs for 2020 with 55-inch or 65-inch WOLED panels