The OLED-Info newsletter (August 3, 2021)

LG Display posted its financial results for Q2 2021, with revenues up 31% from 2020 to $6 billion and a profit of around $370 million. This was the company's best quarter in terms of revenues - as it enjoyed high OLED TV and pOLED sales, an increase in LCD panel price and good performance in displays for IT products.

LG Display says it shipped over 3.5 million OLED TV panels in the first half of 2021, and it is on track to sell 8 million panels within the year. LGD aims to increase its capacity and produce 10 million OLED TV panels in 2022 and 11 million in 2023.

MicroLED displays are exciting to many, as the technology seems to be the front runner for the next-generation display of choice in many market segments - from AR/VR glasses through wearables to TVs and IT displays.

The MicroLED industry though, even after billions of dollars spent on R&D, is still at a very early stage. Production costs are high, processes are not reliable enough, and there are several technical challenges to overcome before production can begin (except for some niche areas such as ultra large-size premium TVs).

ZTE's Axon 30 smartphone features a 6.92-inch 1080x2460 120Hz AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 870 chipset, 6/8/12 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB of storage, a microSDXC memory slot, a quad camera setup, 5G connectivity and a graphene-based cooling system.

The Axon 30 will be released in August 2021 in China.

The Oppo Watch 2 is a smartwatch that comes in two variants, 42 mm with a 1.75-inch 372x430 AMOLED and a larger 46 mm (1.91-inch 402x476 AMOLED).

The Watch 2 features a Snapdragon Wear 4100 chipset, 1GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, heart rate tracking and a blood oxygen monitor.

The Oppo Watch 2 will ship in August 2021, starting at around $200.

Samsung Electronics posted its financial results for Q2 2021, with record sales of $55.2 billion and a net profit of $10.9 billion. Samsung saw higher earnings at its memory and display businesses, offset by a decline in smartphone sales.

Samsung Display says that OLED sales and profits increased because of wider adoption of OLED displays. SDC is worried that supply issues of display drivers may disrupt shipments in Q3, but demand for OLEDs in IT devices and gaming products are expected to see significant growth.

Motorola's Edge 20 family of smartphones include three phones, the Edge 20 Lite, the Edge 20 and the Edge 20 Pro.

The Edge 20 Life features a 6.7-inch 1080x2400 90Hz AMOLED display while the Edge 20 and Edge 20 Pro both feature a 6.7-inch 1080x2400 144Hz AMOLED display. The Edge 20 Pro features a 108MP camera with 5X optical zoom.

Motorola will ship the Edge 20 smartphones by the end of August 2021.

The Huawei P50 smartphone features a 6.5-inch 1224x2700 (458 PPI) 90Hz AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 8 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB of storage, a NM card slot, Dual SIM and a triple camera setup with a 50MP main camera.

The Huawei P50 Pro features a 6.6-inch 1228x2700 120Hz AMOLED display, up to 12GB RAM and 512GB of storage and a quad camera setup.

The P50 and P50 Pro will ship in September 2021, starting at $700.