The OLED-Info newsletter, September 2020
Published: Thu, 10/01/20
Konica Minolta's flexible OLED lighting panels now available globally
In March 2014 Konica Minolta announced that it is starting to construct a R2R flexible OLED lighting fab, hoping to start production in the fall of 2014. This fab entered production later than planned, and took a long time to reach real mass production capabilities. KM has been producing panels for quite some time, but finally it is offering its panels to global customers.
Konica Minolta is currently offering four different modules - two white panels, sized 43x15 mm and 15x15 mm and a red 15x15 mm panel. The red panel can be integrated with an NFC Antenna. The panels can be flexed (40mm radius) and they all offer a brightness of 500 nits.
Konica Minolta is focused on simple flexible OLED lighting panels integrated into packaging, as you can see in the video above. KM recently sold its OLED display IP portfolio (over 700 patent families) to Merck.
Samsung Electronics may not adopt QD-OLEDs for its TVs
In October 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. The company is already starting to produce prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021.
But SDC is facing a problem it probably did not anticipate - Samsung Electronics is hesitant about the adoption of QD-OLED panels, and may not ship QD-OLEDs in 2021 - or maybe even at all. Apparently Samsung Electronics wants to focus on microLEDs for next-generation displays as it finds QD-OLED TVs to be not bright enough - and also because it suffers from burn-in issues.
Ergis launches a new OLED encapsulation film platform
Poland-based Ergis Group has developed a new solution for OLED panel encapsulation. The noDiffusion film, developed in collaboration with Ergis' partners can be adopted as both the flexible substrate and the encapsulation layer for OLED devices.
The Ergis noDiffusion film offers high barrier properties, high level of optical transmittance and a low level of light scattering. This enables the production of OLED displays with extended lifetimes, efficiency and image properties. The noDiffusion film can also be used in the production of solar panels to increase panel efficiency and lifetimes.
Ergis says that the biggest advantage of its new film solution is the lower manufacturing costs, as the films already include an embedded encapsulation layer and could optionally include an embedded electrode layer. Read more here.
BOE plans to become the world's leading flexible OLED maker by 2024
BOE says that its current flexible OLED market share is around 20%. The company says that it plans to increase its market share to 40% by 2024 - and become the world's leader in flexible OLED production by then. BOE estimates that the flexible OLED market will generate $49.7 billion in revenues in 2024.
Earlier this month BOE announced that it shipped 16 million flexible OLEDs in the first half of 2020, and the company expects to ship over 40 million panels in the whole of 2020. BOE main problems currently lie with its Huawei account - the Chinese smartphone maker is expected to producing only 50 million smartphones in 2021 - down from 190 million in 2020. BOE hopes to recoup some of its Huawei orders by becoming an OLED supplier to Apple.
Notion Systems and M.Braun announce a strategic partnership on OLED inkjet printing equipment
Notion Systems and M.Braun announced a strategic partnership in OLED processing equipment. The two companies will combine their best-in-class OLED production technology to improve the production process offers and enhance market access in Asia.
M.Braun is a developer of glove boxes, inert gas purification and automation solutions while Notion Systems is a leading developer of industrial inkjet-printing systems for functional materials, and both companies already enjoy the growing demand of OLED manufacturing in Asia.
Notion Systems' n.jet display series is used for both RGB and TFE printing and can be deployed both as a stand-alone system for R&D purposes and as a fully integrated production cluster, including automation and pre- and post-treatment. n.Jet systems can be used to print functional layers in various steps of display production as well as for various other display technologies.
Notion Systems say that its equipment offers unparalleled precision and in addition the platform complies with highest demands on process environment and process stability. Read more here.
LG's new teaser video shows the company's forthcoming rollable OLED smartphone
In July 2020 LG Electronics announced that it aims to be the first company to introduce a rollable OLED smartphone - as early as the beginning of 2021. LG seems to be progressing in this project, and the company released a teaser video that shows what could be the next Explorer Project smartphone - and the one with the rollable OLED as the video shows a sliding-extending design.
Interestingly, according to reports the supplier of the rollable panel is BOE, and not LG Display. BOE has been showing its first rollable OLED prototypes in 2019. LG Display, of course, is already producing rollable OLED TV panels - these use different technology (WRGB) though.
A few weeks ago IHS Markit stated that the rollable OLED market is finally starting to emerge, and will grow quickly but unit shipments will remain slow in the foreseeable future. IHS sees 100,000 rollable OLED displays shipped in 2022, growing to 1.3 million by 2026. Rollable OLEDs will remain a niche- the share of rollable OLEDs from all flexible OLEDs will be 0.2% in 2026. Foldable OLEDs will be a much larger market - reaching 71.3 million units in 2025.
Check out our recent article that discusses why rollable OLEDs pose a greater challenge to display makers compared to foldable ones.
China's Jilin Optical and Electronic Materials is now a public company, as it starts trading on the Shanghai STAR Market
In April 2020 it was reported that Samsung Electronics wants to develop its own UTG cover technology, as as it feels that SDC's UTG is still not robust enough - and according to new reports it is now collaborating with Corning on this project
In an interesting report from China, it is claimed that Xiaomi is developing a 27-inch transparent OLED monitor, based on panels supplied by Samsung Display. According to the report Xiaomi plans to release this display by 2021.
Samsung Display announced that it has commercial a new foldable OLED display that is the first to achieve a curvature radius of 1.4R mm. This display will be adopted in Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold2 5G with an UTG.
Kaneka is seeing a market for OLED lighting panels in manufacturing sites, for visual inspection, and the company is expanding its production capacity
The display area used in such devices will grow a 93% CAGR, to reach 1.2 million square meters by 2025. In terms of units, 74.4 million rollable/foldable smartphones will ship in 2025.
French OLED microdisplay maker MicroOLED announced that it has raised €8 million by EU-based Cipio Partners and Ventech, and launched a new compact optical module
Merck is investing $26 million to expand the OLED laboratories and build an OLED material plant in Shanghai. The new plant will start production by the end of 2022.
Both SDC and LGD may have to stop supplying OLED displays to Huawei as these use drivers that are based on US-developed technology.
CIL says its Xenia expansion will increase its deuterated benzene capacity six times. Bromobenzene-d5 is used in the production of OLED displays (among other uses) and CIL reports that it was increased demand for this material which initiated the capacity expansion project and investment.
A unique smartphone that features a 6.8-inch 2460x1080 flexible P-OLED display and another 3.9-inch 1240x1080 rigid AMOLED display
Apple's sixth-gen Watch wearable sports a 40mm 324x394 LTPO AMOLED (44 mm 368x448 on the larger edition).
Royole's second-generation foldable smartphone, the FlexPai 2 5G device, sports a 7.8-inch 1920x1440 foldable AMOLED
A high-end smartphone with a 6.67-inch 1080x2340 800-nits 120Hz AMOLED display
A high-end gaming smartphone with a 6.1-inch 120Hz 1080x2520 HDR AMOLED display
The Vivo Watch smartwatch features a round 1.19-inch 390x390 (or 1.39-inch 454x454) AMOLED display
A mid-range Android tablet with a 11.5-inch 2560x1600 500-nits OLED display
The flagship Philips TV for 2020, the OLED+935 features LGD WOLED panels (48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch) with an Android 9 Smart TV platform and four-sided Ambilight
A mid-range smartphone with a 6.6-inch 1080x2400 Super AMOLED display
The world's first smartphone with an under-the-OLED camera, the Axon 20 5G sports a 6.92-inch full-screen 1080x2460 90Hz AMOLED
A new range of convertible laptop with 13.3-inch UHD NanoEdge AMOLED display
A convertible laptop with a 15-inch 4K NanoEdge AMOLED display
The latest Realme smartphone sports 6.4-inch 1080x2400 Super AMOLED display
The Move Time smartwatch features a 1.41-inch 320x260 (EDO, most likely) AMOLED display
The Vivo V20 SE smartphone features a 6.44-inch 1080x2400 AMOLED display
The new smartphone by Sharp features a 6.4-inch 1080+ 120Hz HDR AMOLED display
The a7C is an entry-level mirrorless camera with an XGA OLED microdisplay EVF
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