OLED-Info newsletter

Updates from LG

A few months ago LG has declared that they are going to focus on OLED technologies going forward and the company is indeed advancing OLED on all fronts. LG Electronics decided to air their first Super Bowl ad in the 50th Super Bowl (which will be played on February 7, 2016). The ad will promote LG's OLED TV and will be produced by Ridley Scott's production company, RSA Films. LG says that this ad will demonstrate LG's OLED commitment and will communicate the fact that OLED TV represents a new era in TV technology. The cost of a single ad-break is about $5 million.

LGD announced a few months ago that they will bring 55" rollable OLED prototypes to CES 2016 - but new reports suggest that the company will actually present 77" rollable panels - this will be much more impressive of course. LG will also unveil a new premium home appliance brand - the LG Signature that targets the "sensible rich". The LG Signature OLED TV is focused on its essential element, a screen display - and will have no other elements to let users fully immerse in the image. LG, by the way, finished the installation of their unique OLED sculptures in the N Seoul Tower - where 248 55" OLED TV panels are used in four different installations.

One of the most interesting news regarding LG comes from China this month. Skyworth launched new 55" and 65" 4K HDR OLED TVs, priced at $2,300 and $3,850. Skyworth Group's VP Liu Tong Chi said that OLED TVs are finally reached mass-market promotion, and the company expects to sell 200,000 OLED TVs by March 2017. But the really interesting quote says that LGD cannot supply enough panels for Skyworth. This is the first time we hear that demand is outpacing demand for LG's OLED TV production, which is good news!

LG is not only working on OLED TVs though. According to reports, the company decided to start producing medium-sized OLEDs for laptops and computer monitors - with the first products expected in 2016 or 2017, as the company still has some technical issues to solve. This will make at least some consumers very happy. LG is also developing and producing OLED lighting panel, and LGD announced that it has completed the acquisition of LG Chem's OLED lighting business for $135 million.

A few days ago we posted a hands-on review of Workrite Ergonomics' Natural OLED desk light, that uses a single 320x110 mm OLED panel produced by LG (the N6BB40C panel).

Apple close to sign an OLED supply deal with SDC and LGD?

Since Apple adopted a flexible AMOLED display for the Watch, people have been speculating that the company is also looking into using OLEDs for their smartphones and tablets. Reports that Apple is talking with both Samsung Display and LG Display regarding a future OLED display supply deal surfaced in past weeks.

A few days ago Reuters cited the Electronics Times saying that SDC and LGD are close to signing an agreement with Apple. The two display makers will invest $12.8 billion together to increase OLED capacity for Apple. Reuters says that Apple will likely provide some funding to LG and Samsung, and Samsung will get the larger share of the OLED volume.

It seems that these reports are getting more credible. As OLEDs are becoming better and better than LCDs, and as flexible OLEDs are entering the market and changing the design options for mobile phones, it's highly likely that Apple will have no choice but to switch to OLED eventually. Apple requires a huge production capacity - so it makes sense for Apple to talk to suppliers several years in advance.

According to Bloomberg, Apple recently opened a new laboratory in Taiwan where 50 engineers are developing new display technologies. Apple aims to develop new iPhone and iPad screens that are thinner, lighter, brighter and more energy efficient. Bloomberg says that Apple is focused on better LCDs - but is also "keen" to move to OLED displays.

Will Perovskite LEDs one day replace OLEDs?

Researchers at Korea's Pohang University developed a perovskite LED (PeLED) - that could be used to create displays and lighting panels, one day. PeLEDs have been shown before - but with very limited luminous efficiency. Now the researchers claim that the efficiency of their PeLEDs compete with phosphorescent OLEDs.

The main problem in PeLEDs has been the significant exciton dissociation in perovskite layers. The researchers managed to overcome this by fine stoichiometric tuning that prevents exciton dissociation, and also by nanograin engineering that reduces perovskite grain size, and concomitantly decreases exciton diffusion length. ">Read more over at Perosvkite-Info.

Visionox starts producing 1.45" AMOLEDs, announces first two AMOLED design wins

Visionox announced that it started to mass produce 1.45" AMOLED displays for wearable applications. The 1.45" panel features a resolution of 272x340 (300 PPI) and is 11 mm thick with a 1.5 mm frame. The display offers both MIPI and SPI interfaces.

Visionox also announced that the first product to use this display will be a smartwatch that will be on sale in China in February 2016. Visionox further revealed that they achieved the first AMOLED design win for a mobile phone, and the first phone that uses their 5.5" AMOLED panel announced in June will ship globally in March 2016.

Visionox started mass producing AMOLED panels in June 2015, but the company's production capacity is still limited. Visionox's Gen-5.5 AMOLED line can currently produce around 4,000 monthly substrate, and once yields stabilize they will reach a full capacity of 15,000 monthly substrates.

Mitsubishi and Pioneer to start mass producing color-tunable solution-based OLEDs

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Pioneer Corporation have developed a color-tunable and dimmable OLED lighting panel produced using Mitsubishi's wet-coating process. The companies say that this panel can be produced for less than one-third of the cost of OLEDs made with regular evaporation-based production methods.

Mitsubishi and Pioneer say that these panels will be mass produced in early 2016. They will make three panels, the OLE-P0505 (55x55 mm, active area 40x35 mm), the OLE-P0707 (69x69 mm, active area 54x51 mm) and the OLE-P0909 (92x92 mm, active area 76x76 mm). All three panels are 1.08 mm thick and feature a max luminance of 2,000 cd/m² and a color temperature of 3000K to 5000K. The panels will be distributed by MC Pioneer OLED Lighting Corporation.

Pioneer's Verbatim started to distribute color-tunable panels produced by Mitsubishi and Pioneer back in May 2011 (we posted a hands-on review of one in 2012) - but these were not produced using the wet-coated process. In early 2014, Pioneer and Mitsubishi Chemical announced that they began to mass produce OLED lighting modules made with the wet coating process - but these were not color tunable panels.

ETRI's new graphene-based electrodes to improve OLED panels

Researchers from Korea's ETRI developed transparent graphene based electrodes specifically for OLED displays. The researchers say that current metal (mostly silver) based electrodes have a limited viewing angle because of their internal light reflection, and the external light reflection affects the image quality. Graphene electrodes are more transparent and reduce the reflectance by 40-60 percent.

ETRI says that this technology will be especially suitable for transparent OLEDs and WOLED (WRGB) displays. The scientists aim to continue this research and improve the graphene electrode performance.

Transparent graphene-based electrode for OLED panels is not a new idea. The German Fraunhofer Institute is developing similar electrodes for OLED panels as part of the GLADIATOR project, and recently Graphene 3D Lab demonstrated a printed OLED lighting device with a graphene electrode. Plastic Logic (FlexEnable) demonstrated an E Ink display with graphene electrodes back in 2014, and the company is also working on an OLED panel using similar electrodes.

Top OLED stories in 2015

2015 is pretty much over - and this has been a great year for the OLED industry. OLED displays are reaching more smartphones and wearables - and OLED TVs and flexible OLEDs have finally entered the market for real. And the future looks good too, with major OLED investments promised and expected by the leading display makers.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on OLED-Info in 2015, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. Danish site publishes LG's 2015 OLED TV price list (Jan 11)
2. LG Display demonstrates 0.97 mm thick 55" flat OLED TV panels (May 19)
3. Philips aims to spin-off its OLED lighting business unit (Jan 27)
4. LG announces six new OLED TVs, including the world's first bendable TV (Jan 5)
5. Everdisplay demonstrates a 6" 4K (734 PPI) AMOLED display (Aug 6)
6. Samsung reportedly plans its comeback to the OLED TV market with WRGB panels (Mar 29)
7. LG's 55" curved 4K OLED TV, the EG9600 is now shipping for $5,499 (Mar 11)
8. Researchers claim new method can increase OLED efficiency by 3,000% (Jun 24)
9. LG Chem's 320x320 mm OLED lighting panel now in production, company develops new integration solutions (Jan 16)
10. LGD plans to ship 600,000 OLED TV panels in 2015 and 1.5 million in 2016 (Jan 7)

It's not a big surprise, but most of these stories revolve around OLED TVs. As LG and others continue to push OLED TVs to the market and as prices drop, it's likely that more and more consumers will learn about OLEDs. And once you see an OLED TV, you won't look at your LCD in the same way...

Meet the OLED-Info team at the Mobile World Congress 2016

The OLED-Info team is excited to announce its attendance at the at the MWC 2016, the world's largest event for the mobile industry held in Barcelona, Spain. The MWC event is always exciting, and we hope to see many new OLED devices and prototypes on display.

If you want to schedule a meeting during the event, contact us here. We hope to come back with several interesting OLED stories, so stay tuned. This year the event will feature an entire pavilion dedicated to graphene in regards to the mobile world. Graphene has a potential to revolutionize many industries - be sure to check out our sister site graphene-info to stay updated on everything graphene.

The two executives were charted and found guilty of leaking AMOLED manufacturing and TFT structure research findings to CSOT

Polyera, the US-based OTFT developer, talks to E-Ink-Info on the company's technology and business

Graphene 3D Lab just announced a new patent for a process of 3D printing an OLED lighting device that uses a graphene based top electrode.

According to China Times, Samsung Display aims to bring OLED prices down - so that in 2016 small and medium sized AMOLED panels will cost only about 10% higher than comparable LCDs.

IHS sees more and more display makers adopting the new screen type in their high-end smartphones

Lux Research has a very conservative view of the OLED market - most analysts estimate that the OLED market is already at around $15 billion

The A9 is the largest A-series smartphone - it has a 6-inch Full-HD Super AMOLED display

Samsung large A-series smartphone has a 5.5-inch Full-HD Super AMOLED

Samsung medium-sized A-series smartphone has a 5.2-inch Full-HD Super AMOLED

Samsung smallest A-series smartphone has a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED