[MWC 2017] Samsung Electronics Expands Its Range into the Notebook Market with AMOLED Galaxy book

Samsung Electronics is expected to expand its range into the note book market by launching the Galaxy book that features an AMOLED display.

At MWC 2017 that began from February 27 in Barcelona, Spain, Samsung Electronics mainly unveiled the Galaxy book with a 12-inch FHD AMOLED panel and the Galaxy tap S3 with a 9.7-inch QXGA AMOLED panel.

Galaxy book and Galaxy tap S3 have both functions of tablet PC and notebook with mobile keyboard, and especially the Galaxy book comes with 7th Generation Intel®CoreTM i5 dual core 3.1 GHz CPU and Windows 10 OS, which enables it to have the same configuration as notebook. In particular, it includes more convenient and diverse functions such asthe touch screen and the innovative S Pen that has a 0.7mm pen tip, offering user convenience.

Samsung Electronics announced it will target both tablet PC and notebook markets at the same time by launching Galaxy book, and a Burn-in phenomenon which is AMOLED panel’s weak point has been improved to be used for notebook.

Due to the Burn-in phenomenon, it was difficult to be applied to the PC environment that usually uses White background and fixed task bar, and icons. However, Samsung Electronics is expected to silence controversy by launching the Galaxy book with notebook functions at MWC 2017, following Lenovo and HP’s AMOLED panel launches.

Galaxy book will be released starting from North America in April 2017, and the price will be around US$ 1,000 similar to that of existing notebooks, which is forecast to bring a big change to the notebook market.

<Galaxy book unveiled by Samsung Electronics at MWC 2017>

<Galaxy book Specifications, Source : Samsung Electronics Blog>

Competition for definition in Premium TV market is getting fierce.

Competition for definition of TV between LG OLED TV and Samsung QD-LCD TV is getting fierce in Premium TV market.

Samsung announced that ‘color volume 100%’ of QD-LCD TV has been verified from VDE(Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker), a standard verification association in Germany for the first time in the world. Color volume is a new standard designed to measure even the variation of colors which get different according to brightness as the range of brightness which TV can express gets wider and it’s a standard to measure how accurately TVs realize the intention of an original author. Samsung announced that VDE verified color volume 100%, measuring color area and brightness level of QD-LCD TV in a 3 dimensional form.

<Samsung QD-LCD TV which acquired verification of ‘color volume 100%’ from VDE in Germany>

On the other hand, in last Feb. 20, through its blog, LG also announced that it has received an evaluation of excellence for definition of OLED TV in items of Black, Peak brightness, Color, etc. in the result of a recent definition test of OLED and QD-LCD from Burosch in Germany, a professional evaluation company for video technology and display. Products whose definition were evaluated are TV 65E6 and QD-LCD TV 65KS9800, and LG announced that OLED TV recorded 5 points out of 5 in major test results such as HDR and SDR definition.

<Comparison of Space Scene Definition of QD-LCD TV(Left) and OLED TV(Right), Source : LG Display blog.>

As Samsung and LG launch premium TV in a row, a real competition to hold a lead in premium TV market has started. On 27, by Bestbuy, price of 55 inch C7 of OLED TV which LG launched this year is US$ 3,499.99, and US$ 2,499.99 of 55 inch Q7 of Samsung and Q8 which is more luxury type than that is getting closer to US$ 3,499.99, so the competition for definition is predicted to get more fierce in the future.

Many people are paying attention to which one will hold a lead in the competition for definition of premium TV between QD-LCD TV which hold a lead in the aspect of brightness and OLED TV which holds a lead in the contrast range, response speed, etc.

LG Electronics comes forward to the TV market in Korea with the dual premium strategy equipped with OLED and the Nano cell technology

LG Electronics will attack the TV market in Korea with the dual premium strategy through the ‘OLED TV’ and ‘Super Ultra HD TV’ which employs Nano cell technology.

LG Electronics held the ‘2017 LG TV New Product Presentation’ at the Seocho R&D Campus located in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul with executive managements including CEO Sang-gyu, Choi, head of Korea Sales, and vice-president Bong-suk Kwon, head of HE Business. In the presentation, Bong-suk Kwon, head of HE Business, highlighted that “we plan to expand the premium TV market by expanding a wide range for choice of customers with super ultra HD TV applying OLED TV and Nano cell.”

LG plans to launch ‘LG signature OLED TV(OLED65W7) 65 type’ coming on 25th in Korea. A market price will be 14 million won, and 77 type(OLED77W7) will be released in the first half. LG signature OLED TV is known that as it is a wallpaper design through greatly wall-closely mounted and the thickness is under 4mm based on the 65W7 when installed. LG Electronics explained that it separated all parts and speakers as ‘Innovation Stage’ excluding screen in order to complete a wallpaper design, and mentioned that the innovation stage includes the 4.2 channel speaker with four ordinary speakers and two woofers also. LG signature OLED TV awarded the best of the best award for the only one of entries submitted in CES 2017. LG signature will be applied to W and G series (OLED77/65G7).

<LG Electronics’ Signature OLED TV W>

LG Electronics, in addition, announced that ‘Dolby ATMOS’ which is the advanced stereoscopic sound system, supports newly released LG ultra OLED TV this year. Dolby ATMOS makes that sounds are like in front of or behind users depending on the movement or positions of objects on the screen. For example, when an airplane flies above the head of an actor/actress, it provides more stereoscopic sound and realistic sense of space by serving a sound at upper position of viewers.

They will newly launch 10 models (77/65W7, 77/65G7, 65/55E7, 65/55C7, 65/55B7) in 5 series of Ultra OLED TV in Korea this year. The price of Ultra OLED TV was designated as that 55 type is 369~500 ten thousan
d won, 65 type is 740~1,400 ten thousand won.

In others, LG Electronics announced plans regarding on super ultra HD TV release with Nano cell technology and the HDR support of various standards, an application of web OS 3.5. The market price of super ultra HD TV applying Nano cell technology is 240~360 ten thousand won for 55 type, 450~650 ten thousand won for 65 type, and they also told that super ultra HD TV will be launched with about 30 models this year.

<A market price for LG Electronics’ TV in 2017, Source: social.lge.co.kr>

CYNORA to present its newest OLED device results for TADF blue with EQE up to 24% at the Korea OLED Conference

During the coming OLED Korea Conference, hosted by UBI Research, CYNORA is going to present the newest status of its blue TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) emitters. CYNORA is one of the most active companies in this field with several years of experience in TADF. The company’s focus is on the high-efficiency blue emitter materials, which are currently the biggest limitation for further significant improvement of OLED displays. CYNORA’s blue TADF emitters will enable device makers to produce OLED displays with significantly reduced power consumption and higher display resolution.

<Picture : CYNORA>

An update of the status of TADF emitters at CYNORA will be shown by the CMO, Dr. Andreas Haldi during the Session “Better Materials for Better Performance”. Andreas Haldi will present improved OLED devices with a sky-blue material with an EQE of 24% and with 1000 h lifetime (LT80), both measured at display brightness. The performance of these devices is so far the best result combining efficiency and lifetime that has been reported for the TADF technology with blue emission. Andreas Haldi will also disclose in his presentation some more details relating to the planned commercialization of CYNORA’s blue TADF emitters by end of this year.

<Picture : CYNORA>

UBI Research has recently announced that the OLED emitting material market is increasing sharply and is expected to reach about US$ 980 million in 2017. With Apple starting to use OLED displays in the near future, the demand for high-performance OLED panels will increase significantly. Therefore, the panel makers are currently pushing the adaptation of high-efficiency blue pixels in their panels to gain an edge towards the competition.

Samsung Electronics seeks to catch the victory at MWC 2017 by VR

Samsung Electronics will show the C lab (Creative Lab) project relating with VR (Virtual Reality) from February 27 to March 1 at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017 held in Barcelona, Spain.

The C lab project to be presenting by Samsung Electronics at MWC 2017 is followings: some of those are reading of low vision and blind persons, Relúmĭno which is a visual aids solution for Gear VR to help watching TV, Monitorless which is a VR/AR (Augmented Reality) solution that can be remotely operated for high-quality contents of PCs and smartphones, VuildUs which is a VR home interior service that experiences interior decorations in virtual reality, traVRer which is for the video travel service that helps experiencing of virtual trips by using 360-degree video watching.

The director of Samsung Electronics’ Creative Development Center, Jae-il, Lee s
aid, “We plan to verify the possibility of expanding VR and AR’s technology by meeting with the external users and try to continue various challenges, though, the presenting C lab project at this time is a trial product level.

The C lab is selecting the project such as from the element technology like sensors to beauty, kids and VR etc. in various industrial field, as the in-company venture training program introduced by Samsung Electronics in 2012 to discover creative ideas among employees and spread the creative culture of the company.

<Products to be exhibited at MWC 2017 by Samsung Electronics, Source: Samsung Display blog>

The diverse products to be showed at MWC 2017 by Samsung Electronics can be found in detail on the blog of Samsung’s(https://news.samsung.com).

Cybernet develops the IC of Mura correction for OLED display

Cybernet system Co., Ltd. of Japan revealed that a display driver IC including the function of Mura correction IP for OLED display, has been jointly developed with a semiconductor manufacturer.

<Structure of OLED and Driver IC, Source: cybernet.jp>

Cybernet said, “Through this joint development, OLED panel companies can easily apply the advanced function of Mura correction, and additionally, the use of automatic Mura correction device together which is FPiS™ series provided by Cybernet, can help the stable production by evolving its quality and improving yield. We thus are expecting that this will accelerate the product release in the market.”

The driver IC for OLED display including the newly developed function of Mura correction is scheduled for starting to distribute it from June, 2017 to the market, aiming to a wide use IC and another for specific customers. They have plans to notify later regarding where will be distributed, when will be started for sales and what is the detailed specification of ends product.

<The system schematic diagram of automatic Mura correction device utilizing FPiS, Source: cybernet.jp>

Samsung Display maintains 70%, share of market of AMOLED panel for smartphones by 2020

According to the “2017 OLED Display Annual Report” published by Ubi Research, it looks ahead to build about US$ 57,000 million market in 2020 of AMOLED panel for smartphones, and among this, it is expected to take about 72% by Samsung Display.

The market of AMOLED panel for smartphones in 2017 would be highly increased on the strength of the growth of shipments on smartphones by Chinese set manufacturers and Apple’s iPhone launch which applied flexible AMOLED panel.

Samsung Display, thus, has invested the mass production line in large-scale for flexible AMOLED panel starting in 2016, and its investment will be extended for catching up with its growing demands in this year rather than last year. Just the same, the panel manufacturers in China and Japan, including LG Display, are also investing and aggressively reviewing the mass production line, therefore, this market will be heavily developed.

“2017 OLED Display Annual Report” says that based on this investment, the market of AMOLED panel for smartphones which was just 374.4M in 2016, is anticipated to increase by 38.8% to 519.7M in 2017 and, it will be make the number of market by 1,442 with growing by 39.8% at an annual average by 2020.

In Samsung Display, particularly, would take the market share over 70% even after 2018 when the following company behind begins to roughly start the mass productions, since Samsung Display will endeavor to steadily keep its gaps based on the technology’s ability of high-quality images and flexible AMOLED panel, and the aggressive investments.

In “2017 OLED Display Annual Report”, meanwhile, depicts to help catching the greater flow of OLED industry on the supply chains, the latest trends by major panel company and investment state, the application trends applying AMOLED and the capability analysis of OLED mass production lines which are expected to invest in this year. It would be also expected to help field companies understand the market by analyzing the market prospect by 2021 in diverse perspective and AMOLED panel market performance from 2011.

<The Market Share Perspective of AMOLED Panel for Smartphones>

2017 Premium TV Market Structure due to the Different Prices of Premium TVs and Sony’s Joining in OLED TV Market

Some line-ups of Samsung Electronics QLED TVs including the Q7 and Q8 introduced at CES 2017 are starting to be unveiled and preordered on its official U.S website and Amazon. The products for preorder are 55, 65, and 75-inch flat TVs of Q7 line-up, and 55 and 65-inch curved TVs of Q8, the higher lineup than Q7. QN65Q7F 65-inch flat TV cost US$ 3,499.99 on Amazon, as of 16th, and QN65Q8C 65-inch curved TV was US$ 4,499.99. It was 20% more expensive than ‘SUHD TV’, the premium TV line-up launched in 2016, and it was intended to build premium TV’s own image by highlighting high price range and enhanced picture quality.

On the other hand, LG Electronics OLED TV prices keep on decreasing. OLED65C6 65-inch curved OLED TV was launched last year at US$ 3,197.00 on Amazon as of 16th, and that was 50% cheaper than US$ 6,000.00 on June, 2016. In addition, the lunch price of OLED65C7 65 inch-curved OLED TV to sell this year is set as US$ 4,000.00 on Amazon as of 15th, which was a 30% cheaper than 2016 and US$ 500.00 cheaper than Samsung’s QN65Q8C 65 inch curved TV. As LG Electronics are leading the OLED premium TV market, it is likely to pay more attention to popularization due to is low price.

<Price Comparison of 2017’ 65-inch Curved TV New Products, Source : Amazon.com>

Due to similar prices of OLED TV and QLED TV in the premium TV market, high-quality picture, brand image, consumer needs satisfaction are gaining importance. Color reproduction among high-quality picture factors has similar performance, whereas OLED TV still gain a competitive advantage in contrast range and response speed. Besides, Sony that has kept a strong brand power and status in the premium TV market showcased OLED TV with higher-quality picture upgraded by ‘Acoustic Surface’ technology that produces sound without speaker and ‘X1 extreme processor’ HDR chip, attracting a lot of attention at CES 2017. Its release date and price have not yet been announced, but it is expected to greatly influence the premium TV market.

There’s a keen interest on, how the 2017 premium TV market will change due to the different price strategies of premium TVs to be released and Sony’s joining in OLED TV.

Samsung Display is Expected to Ship More than 100 Million Smart Phone AMOLED Panels Quarterly

Samsung Display’s Smart phone AMOLED panels are expected to surpass 100 million units.

According to UBI Research, the shipment of Samsung Display’s OLED panel for smartphone in Q4 2016 was 98 million units, an increase of 6% from the previous quarter and 15% from the same time last year.

UBI Research announced “A3line invested in 2016 will operate starting from the 1st quarter, and accordingly the shipment of Samsung Display’s smartphone AMOLED panel is expected to surpass 100 million.”

In addition, Chinese TV set companies and many smartphone set companies such as Apple have an increasing demand for AMOLED panels, and especially the demand for flexible AMOLED panels to be applied to high-end smartphone is expected to increase significantly.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics announced at the Q4 conference call that the sales of OLED panels increased slightly compared to the previous quarter, and it plans to promote sales by actively responding to the rise in OLED panel adoption of major smartphone clients.

5 Best TVs for the Super bowl, selected by the Consumer Report

Super Bowl, the North American professional soccer (NFL) final and one of the World’s biggest sport events, is coming under our noses and LG OLED TV has swept top three places at 5 best TVs for the Super bowl. Also products of LG and Samsung Electronics accounted for the top 10 except for 5th place, showing powerful technology of Korean companies.

LG Electronics’ 65-inch OLED TV, OLED65G6P, was selected as the best TV for the Super Bowl by Consumer Reports in the US in 2017. The consumer report commented excellent screen quality and deep black, built-in sound, and infinite viewing angle- the best in all respects, suppressing Samsung and Sony’s flagship.

<LG Electronics 65inch OLED TV- OLE65G6P, Source : consumerreports.org>

LG OLED65E6P and OLED55B6P ranked 2nd and 3rd place, offering the strengths of OLED TV and reasonable price. LG UHD LCD TV ranked 9th and 10th, listing five LG TVs are in the top 10.

The fourth is Samsung’s quantum dot SUHD TV, UN65KS9800. The consumer report reviewed that it shows high resolution quality and excellent sound, in application of full array LED backlight with local dimming function to produce very deep black levels for an LCD set. Samsung’s other products such as UN55KS9000, UN55KS8000, UN55KS6500 ranked 6, 7 and 8, listing four products in the top 10.

On the other hand, Sony’s XBR-65Z9D was ranked 5th in the top 10, except for Korean makers. The Consumer Report commented, it uses a unique full-array backlight system, called Backlight Master Drive, to turn each LED on or off independently, helping it produce impressive black levels and contrast for an LCD-based set.

The Super Bowl competition is the world’s most popular sport event, with more than 100 million viewers around the world and during the season various marketing events are held- it’s the second most successful TV purchase period in a year, following Black Friday. Such Super Bowl event and positive reviews on OLED TVs are anticipated to be in the competitive position in the premium TV market along with the recent price reduction of OLED TV.

<Best TVs for the Super bowl, Source : consumerreports.org >

Developing ultra-definition display with a color filter technology

A color filter technology has been developed that can bring forward commercialization of next generation’s TVs with ultra-definition visibility and lower prices. The National Research Foundation of Korea (a chairman of the board, Moo-jae, Cho) announced that Prof. for Korea University, Byeong-kwon, Joo’s research team has developed a complementary plasmon color filter having sharp display and high resolution. The color filters which are currently used in the display industry mainly are optical absorption type using pigments or dyes. It has low chemical stability since it is based on organic materials and high unit cost due to manufacturing RGB filters separately. On the other hand, the optical interference type plasmon color filter using inorganic materials can simultaneously produce various color filters at low cost, but there is a problem that the color purity is in decline due to color interference occurring in the two-dimension array of nanostructures.

<Transmittance spectrum according to opening ratio of Hole pattern and dot pattern structures, Source: The National Research Foundation of Korea>

The research team applied a reversal approach to break out the existing pattern as complementary design method that combines dot pattern with hole pattern. It is a general viewpoint of academia that it is difficult to apply dot pattern to a transmission color filter in the form of reversing the existing hole pattern. However, the team assured that the extraction of high purity for red is possible through effective blocking the leakage of short wavelengths by dot pattern under certain conditions. The result is shown that the range of implementing color in the complementary designed plasmon color filter is widened over 30% than before.

<Plasmonic color filter of Hole pattern and Dot pattern structure produced, Source: The National Research Foundation of Korea>

In addition, the implementing of various color of the complementary plasmon color filters is available such as red, green, and blue by adjusting only the geometric parameters of the nanopattern. The performance can be improved without additional costs since the existing materials and manufacturing methods could be used as usual.

Prof. Byeong-kwon, Joo explained that “This research has developed a plasmon color filter with high color reproducibility through a complementary design method. This is expected to accelerate the development of the next-generation display combining nano-optic devices.”

The research results were performed by supporting of the Basic Research Support Project(private research) of the National Research Foundation of Korea at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of Education·BK21 support project of the National Research Foundation. It was published in the Scientific Reports affiliated journal of an international journal Nature, on January, 13th.

Sensational Self-driving Cars and OLED Display in 2017

Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion(IITP) has selected and announced the next-year top 10 issues of ICT(Information & Communication Technology) since 2008, and selected automotive issues including self-driving and connected cars among top 10 ICT issues in 2017.

A self-driving car is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and surroundings and driving along a planned path, and a connected car is a car that is usually connected with a network due to its convergence with IT technology. Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto are representative.

An autonomous car currently under development puts more importance on the display that can provide necessary information in time because information is increasingly diversifying and complex. With the higher availability of interior space in the not partial but full self-driving age, the utilization of display that can support a driver’s various secondary activities is expected to increase.

In addition, as smart devices and network have advanced, a connected car is expected to use media contents streaming and various application services through display including in-vehicle CID(Center Information Display). And, it will be a connected device that connects a driver-car-house through display that provides wireless communication service and information.

Accordingly, many panel companies including LG Display are developing automotive displays, and automobile companies also try to apply different displays in order to differentiate from other companies and highlight merchantable quality. Especially, they are actively considering flexible displays because it is difficult to use the large area of flat displays with curved surface in cluster and CID, and therefore OLED display with good design availability is receiving attention.

AMOLED panel has the advantages of rapid response speed and high visibility based on wide viewing angle, high color reproduction rate and contrast range. And, its flexible design is so easy that it is applicable regardless of location, thereby attracting automobile companies. But, its short lifespan remains a current issue, and panel companies are carrying out development for performance improvement such as better lifespan, service temperature, and brightness.

<Market Share Forecast of Displays in the Automotive Display Market, 2017~2022>

Meanwhile, according to “Automotive Display Report – application & market trend analysis and the market forecast” published by UBI Research, OLED pane is expected to be applied to automotive cluster or CID beginning in 2018, and the automotive display market is likely to increase about 17% annually on average and will reach about US$ 25,000 million by 2022. Also, it forecasted that the AMOLED panel market will account for about 20% of the total sales.

Will Curved TV Disappear in the Premium TV Market?

The curved TV introduced firstly in 2013 has attracted attention for a long time, and many companies including Samsung Electronics and China’s Hisense, Haier and TCL showcased curved TVs at CES 2016. In addition, newcomers including Xiaomi and LeTV released curved TVs, and Samsung Electronics organized ‘Curved Federation’ with China’s TV companies such as Hisense and TCL in August, 2016 to cooperate with each other for the expansion of curved market, and the reviews on the curved TV market are generally positive.

But, only a few companies such as Korean and Chinese ones unveiled curved TVs at CES 2017, while other electronics companies in Europe and the US showcased flat TVs only. Meanwhile, LG Electronics said that it plan to release flat TVs only for Q9, a flagship TV model of 2017 but curved TVs for less expensive models Q7 and Q8. With its plan to focus on flat OLED TV in the future, pointing out the downward trend of curved TV market, LG plans to pay more attention to flat OLED TV. Likewise, major TV set companies’ awareness of curved TV started to change. Besides, European electronics company Vestel mentioned the disadvantage of curved TV that is too sensitive to viewing angle, and TV review company Reviewed.com and other review companies offered negative opinions on curved TV. This expects that the position of curved TVs is likely to dwindle in the premium TV market.

Accordingly, the premium TV market will have intense competition for the clear picture quality of flat type TVs, whereas curved TVs are expected to have competition with Chinese companies in a lower level TV market. As many Chinese TV makers have released curved TVs, curved TV in the premium TV market is no longer a competitive point. Therefore, TV set companies need to find a new turning point to catch the eyes of the consumers.

<Booth Photos of Samsung(Left) and LG(Right) at CES 2016 and 2017. Many curved TVs were mainly unveiled in 2016, but flat TVs in 2017>