LG Electronics Will Expand OLED TV Shipments to More Than 5 Million Units by 2020

LG Electronics announced through its Q4 2017 earnings conference call, the sales of HE (Home Entertainment) Division increased by more than 10% compared to the same period of last year due to the demand for high-demand season of TV market and the sales of premium TV.

Regarding the 2018 forecast, “there are still external environmental risks such as exchange rate fluctuations, but the global TV market will increase with sporting events”, they added.

As a result, the HE Division will pursue sales growth through marketing centered on premium TVs while maintaining a stable profit structure through continuous cost-cutting activities.

They answered to the question when OLED TV shipments exceed 5 million units, “OLED TV shipments in 2017 were doubled compared to 2016 and the sales are expected to rise at a similar level in 2018”. And, “if this trend continues, that point will be 2020″, they said.

They also emphasized that it is more important for OLED TVs to have a premium position in the TV market rather than shipments, and how much they will secure OLED TVs.

On the other hand, the sales of MC(mobile communication) Division increased 9% QoQ to KRW3.655 trillion thanks to the release of LG V30, a premium smartphone equipped with OLED, in the fourth quarter of last year. However, the division posted an operating loss of KRW213.2 billion due to increased costs of smartphone major parts such as memory and marketing expenses.

In order to overcome these operating losses, MC Division plans to increase customer satisfaction by implementing the strategies that enhance product completeness and reliability.

The MC Division said, “We will release the next strategy model within the first half of the year when it is deemed to be ready enough after securing its competitiveness rather than pursuing the timing of competitors.”

In addition, the next strategic model will strengthen AI ​​function, audio and camera functions, which are the strengths of LG Electronics. Until the next strategic model is launched, we will continue to release upgraded and mid-priced models of LG V30 and G6. At the same time, we will minimize sales losses by reducing costs with our unique platform.

AMOLED Display Market track – Investment & MP Line Status, just published

According to the investment trend data from AMOLED Display Market Track published by UBI research, the net area capacity of AMOLED production worldwide is expected to grow at a CAGR of 48% from 2018 to 2020.

As a result of analyzing the glass area based on the overall equipment capacity, the net area capacity of AMOLED mass production was 13 million square meters in 2017, and it is expected to grow more than three times to 40 million square meters in 2020.

The net area capacity of AMOLED mass production area is projected to grow from 4 million square meters in 2017 to 8.4 million square meters in 2020, and that of small and medium-sized AMOLED is to be increased about 3.5 times from 9.1 million square meters in 2017 to 32 million square meters in 2020.

Analysis shows that LG Display’s net area capacity will be increased by 6.9 million square meters from 2018 to 2020, followed by Samsung Display with 5.8 million square meters increase and BOE with 4.4 million square meters increase.

On the other hand, when compared to the net area capacity for small and medium-sized AMOLED, Samsung Display is expected to increase by 5.8 million square meters, with the largest investment, followed by BOE of 4 million square meters’ increase and LG Display of 2.9 million square meters increase.

<Net area capacity of AMOLED mass production by company>

According to Lee Choong Hoon, CEO of UBI Research, LG Display’s AMOLED mass production line investment in China will lead LGD to more than double BOE’s AMOLED production capacity in terms of net area capacity in 2020, however, BOE is expected to overtake LG Display at small and medium-sized panel capacity in 2019.

AMOLED Display Market Track consists of investment data, market performance, market forecast, ASP, cost analysis, competitiveness analysis and so on. The investment data in this report contains details of the investment history of the panel companies, current status, and investment prospects for the next three years. Also, the useful data and graphs analyzed in various aspects are provided in excel format.

At the 10th CAR-ELE JAPAN, Many Companies Unveiled Automotive OLED Display and Lighting

By Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.com)

OLED display and lighting are expected to become increasingly applied to the interior and exterior of automobiles.

At CES 2018, Samsung Electronics introduced the OLED-applied dashboard. LG Electronics unveiled the center fascia with 14-inch OLED, and OLED set makers continue to exhibit their OLED applications for automobiles.

At the 10th CAR-ELE JAPAN held in TOKYO BIG SIGHT(Tokyo International Exhibition Center) on 17th, several companies including Tianma and Truly exhibited automotive OLED displays and lighting.

Tianma exhibited 4.2-inch, 5.46-inch and 5.99-inch OLED panels. The 5.99-inch OLED was a full-screen OLED, and the company official said “The full screen will be applied not only to mobile devices but also to automobiles such as CIDs and navigation systems due to the nature of automotive displays sensitive to visual impacts.” It is said they produced the OLED Panel with high luminance, including 5.46-inch and 4.2-inch OLED with luminance of 650 cd/m2, ensuring good high visibility under sunlight. In addition, they announced that they will manufacture unbreakable flexible type of OLED even though the exhibited OLEDs were all rigid type.

<Tianma’s Automotive OLED Panel>

Truly exhibited 5.5-inch OLED panel. The company’s official mentioned that although they can not disclose detailed specifications, it should be further developed in terms of reliability for the application to the current automotive displays. In addition, they announced that automotive potentials such as autonomous vehicles are so huge that the importance of displays that can provide visual information will become even more important, and therefore they will invest in it.

Lastly, Nippon Electric Glass introduced OLED lighting which was created in collaboration with OLEDWorks. “This was created as interior lights and taillights for vehicles.” and “The OLED lighting substrate uses IEL(internal extraction layer) to improve more efficiency when applied to indoor lights, and better visibility when applied to taillights,” explained the company’s official.”

<OLED Lighting exhibited by Nippon Electric Glass>

Meanwhile, in relation to OLED lighting, OLED light source companies such as LG Display and Osram supplied the OLED lights for tail lights to finished car makers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In particular, it is expected to start the OLED lighting market in earnest, for example LG Display’s announcement of full-scale operation of the Gen5 OLED light source production line in December.

PMOLED and Micro OLED Stand Out In the Wearable Device Market

At the 4th wearable expo being held from January 17th in TOKYO BIG SIGHT -Tokyo International Exhibition Center, many companies attracted the attention of participants by exhibiting OLED wearable devices and OLED panels. Particularly, at this exhibition, many wearable devices with PMOLED and micro OLED were displayed, which proved once again infinite possibilities of OLED.

First, ColorLink Japan unveiled its VR and AR devices with micro OLED. Micro OLED is a panel that can realize high resolution in small size by reducing OLED panel to micro size. “The micro OLED applied to ColorLink Japan’s VR equipment is 0.7-inch in size with FHD resolution, and we were able to manufacture more compact and scarce VR device by applying micro OLED”, said an official from ColorLink Japan.

<ColorLink Japan’s Micro OLED VR and AR>

In addition, Fitbit and iWOWNfit exhibited smart bands with PMOLED. PMOLED refers to a passive matrix OLED that does not use TFT, which is a switching device, and is mainly applied to low resolution devices that display numbers or characters rather than high resolution-required devices. In relation to the reason for the application of PMOLED, both companies explained that they have been able to significantly reduce power consumption by applying PMOLED, and the OLED prices have fallen considerably so that they have sufficient price competitiveness.

Meanwhile, OLED panel makers also exhibited a number of OLED panels for wearable devices. Pioneer, which firstly produced mono color PMOLED for FM character broadcast in 1997, attracted participants by introducing a number of PMOLEDs and devices using this. Pioneer announced its goal to diversify its business centering on PMOLED, introducing PMOLED-applied Bluetooth speakers, smart watches, and AR devices.

<Pioneer’s PMOLED Panel and AR>

RiTdisplay also attracted attention by exhibiting a number of wearable appliances and panels with many PMOLEDs. RiTdisplay said, “Since the AMOLED market is already occupied by Korea, it is inevitably lagging behind its productivity and price competitiveness”. “Instead, PMOLED enables easy customization with less production cost than AMOLED so it is competitive in the wearable device market.” Also, they announced that since smart bands will be more aggressive in this market due to lower ppi than smart watches and mobile devices, they will actively target the market.

<RiTdisplay’s PMOLED Panels & Applications>

In addition to AMOLED which is leading the mobile device and TV market, various methods of OLEDs such as PMOLED and micro OLED are being actively applied to wearable devices, thereby expanding its influence. The future of OLED, which is being increasingly utilized, is expected.

[CES 2018] OLED TV in 17 Types to be Displayed Compared to 2017, and OLED Manufacturers to be Expanded Further

By Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.com)

The number of OLED TVs exhibited at CES 2018 increased to 31, which was a significant increase of 17 from CES 2017. The number of OLED TV companies that exhibited at CES 2018 were 7 including LG Electronics, Sony, Panasonic and Skyworth.

At CES 2018, OLED TVs were exhibited with 6 for 55-inch, 19 for 65-inch, and 6 for 77-inch. 65-inch OLED TVs were most on display, and it was noticeable that many companies were focusing on 65-inch OLED TV products. 77-inch OLED TVs in 6 types same as 55-inch were exhibited so that it was found to be included in the main lineup.

In addition, the display resolution of all OLED TVs was UHD because UHD products were mainly displayed according to consumers’ demand for high-definition TV. OLED TVs with FHD resolution had been exhibited until 2015, and only OLED TVs with UHD resolution have been on display since 2016.

Meanwhile, LG Display’s Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom said, “We will raise the sales portion of OLEDs to 40% of total sales by 2020” in a press conference on 8th local time, which implied that OLED TV market will be more expanded.

In addition, Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom said that two major Chinese companies will join the OLED market. As a result, the number of OLED manufacturers will grow from 13 to 15, including LG Electronics, Sony and Panasonic so that the OLED companies are expected to be expanded further.

OLED TV, which is currently leading the premium TV market, is expected to see a bigger rise.

UBI Research, ‘2018 OLED KOREA Conference’ will be held on 7th to 8th of March

OLED Korea Conference, the global OLED conference, will be held on 7th(Wed) to 8th(Thu) of March.

The 4th OLED Korea Conference will be held on the theme of ‘OLED with opportunity & adding value to your business’ at the Novotel Ambassador Hotel in Seoul, Korea for two days. It is expected to provide a platform for various information and exchange of opinions regarding presentation of each theme.

OLED industry, which is continuing to grow at a high rate is expected to surpass the LCD market share in the small and mid-sized market of this year.

According to UBI Research, the OLED research organization, small and medium-sized OLED panel shipments for mobile devices are expected to grow up to 6.3 billion won in this year, which is 53.2% growth compared to last year. On the other side, OLED panel shipments for TV is expected to grow up to about 2.4 million won which is 47.2% growth compared to last year.

In this conference, there will be presentations on the topic; ▲ View from Panel Makers about OLED Market ▲ Solution Process Technology, yet to come ▲ New Performance Development from Major SCMs ▲ New Technology Discussions for Next Generation Display or Better Process from global companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, Sony and leading companies such as 3M, Applied Materials, Corning, Cynora and OLED panel company, set company, material/device company, university/research institute as well as domestic and foreign experts of OLED display.

Also, UBI Research, Japan Mizuho Security and French market research institute ‘Yole development’ planned a lecture about the title of “Opinion from Business and Industry Analysts.”

Especially, Yoshihiro Ono, TV business manager from Sony will present about OLED TV launch for the first time in Sony, which was one of the biggest issues in OLED industry of 2017. The title is ‘Designs for BRAVIA OLED TV and Expectations for large screen OLED devices’ and contents are about adoption background, BRAVIA OLED TV development history and different points of OLED TV from other companies.

In the 4th OLED KOREA Conference which will show trends and developments of OLED industry, it is expected that more than 200 major domestic and foreign experts and industry workers will participate. This conference has received much attention as it is planned to provide opportunities for networking and continuous exchanges of relevant information and know-how. For more information, please visit www.oledkoreaconference.com.

[CES 2018] This is the era of “Connected”

By Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.com)

“Connected” is the theme of largest number of exhibitors participating in 2018 CES. In the future, home appliances and electronic goods such as TV, washing machine, refrigerator, and automobiles will be connected to people and operated with artificial intelligence (AI).

CES 2018 is a chance for many set-makers, including LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, to highlight both that electronic goods are connected with users as it is connected and converged going beyond single primary function and using electronic good equals to the user’s “life style”. “Connect” and “Expansion” is a way for many companies to show how they communicate with the upcoming new era: LG electronics launches new brand of Thin Q, Samsung Electronics suggests connected city phone and life style through connection of phones with consumer electronics, and Intel displays AI-applied applications, and autonomous cars.

<“ThinQ” of LG Electonics >

Now, display is changing in order to facilitate and enable the “Connectedness” of these electronic devices. If display was simply recognized as image projection in the past, now it becomes a tool of “Communications”. “Connected” without display seems incomplete as it recognizes the user through display and extend from information output to information selection and recognition of correct information.

OLED is expected to apply to 5G and AI favorably as it is applied to diverse electronic products including TV, mobile devices and automobiles thanks to flexibility of product design and superior color presentation.

<’AI’ of Intel>

< ‘connected city’ of Samsung Electronics>

[CES 2018] OLED TV exhibition from major set manufacturers

On 8 January 2018, the largest electronic show is held at Enclave Convention Center in Las Vegas, United States.

Major electronic companies such as LG Electronics, Sony, Vestel, Changhong, Skyworth presented OLED TV as main exhibition. In particular, Samsung Electronics’ “Micro LED” exhibition received a great deal of attention.  Samsung Electronics unveiled the world’s first “micro LED” technology-applied 146-inch modular TV, “The Wall.” People came to see the product and it was heated up in a hot issue. Samsung Electronics emphasized that this product is a future screen that is unlimited in image quality, size and form. Through the implementation of the local dimming 3000, “The Wall”, which was unveiled at the exhibition show is developed by brightness, contrast ratio, color reproduction and black display compared to the existing display.

<‘Micro LED TV ‘The Wall’ of Samsung Electronics’>

Especially, the existing “Mini LED” products were exhibited along with “The Wall” for comparison of exhibition. And the excellence of “Micro LED” was outstanding. “Mini LED” products was little far from the large display as pixels and the lines of each module were shown on the screen.

LG Electronics, Sony, Changhong and other companies presented 65-inch and 77-inch OLED TV display products including Sound Acoustic OLED TV products. In particular, Konka reflected the trend that TV is a part of furniture, not just electronic products and it consists of a set design that took advantages of Chinese traditional atmosphere.

In addition, many set manufacturers have demonstrated the advantages of OLED TV, which is the lightest and thinnest through “Wall Paper TV” and “Slim” concepts.

<A8F Bravia OLED TV of Sony>

<OLED TV of Kongka>

‘TCL’, which occupies a side of QLED TV showed more advanced QLED TV in image quality and color reproduction range. According to the person in charge of TCL, QD dominated the portion of the current market therefore, many manufacturers are producing Quantum dot LCD, and also considering OLED TV launches. The person in charge emphasized that they are building factories in China that produce only OLED.

LG Electronics is a leading OLED TV company and showed OLED which is being developed continuously through making tunnels of OLED TV. They revealed that LG Electronics is the world’s first OLED TV set manufacturer. People look forward to seeing OLED growth in the future through CES the first electronic exhibition show in 2018.

LG Display to Showcase Next-Generation OLED Products at CES 2018

LG Display will showcase its distinctive technologies during the ‘Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018’ exhibition held in Las Vegas from January 9th to 12th, and aggressively engage in marketing.

In this exhibition, LG Display displays distinctive OLED products in various aspects such as image quality, application range and design for customers to directly experience the value of OLED.

LG Display unveils products that have realized unique and distinctive values of OLED, such as 65 inch UHD rollable display and 55-inch transparent display.

In particular, the 65 inch UHD rollable display proposes the future of display, offering a new look and experience. It is a rollable display with 65 inch ultra-high resolution (UHD, 3,840 x 2,160).  When not in use of the display, the screen can be rolled in to be hidden away to increase space utilization, providing a new value that existing displays cannot realize. In addition, it is easy to move and install the screen when it is rolled up and also possible to adjust the screen size and the ratio optimized for the purpose of use- the user can enjoy the desired content anytime and anywhere. LG Display has demonstrated the unlimited potential of OLED to create a new market through introduction of the rollable display.

In addition, LG Display has implemented an 88 inch 8K TV as an OLED display, and Crystal Sound OLED TV also upgraded its audio function from the existing 2.1 channel sound to 3.1 channel sound. LG display will deliver the confidence in OLED to customers, exhibiting products that emphasize the benefits of OLED, including 55 inch transparent displays and 77 inch wallpapers.

<LG Display’s rollable display, Source: LG Display>

 

CES 2018: Expected to Showcase Low to Mid-End Smartphones

By Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.com)

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are going to unveil low to mid-end smartphones at CES 2018 instead of their mainstream smartphones.

Samsung Electronics will showcase 5.6-inch Galaxy A8 and 6-inch Galaxy A8 Plus at CES 2018. The Galaxy A8(2018) series are expected to adopt a 18: 9 ratio full screen OLED similar to Galaxy S8 design with almost zero bezel.

<Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy A8, Source: news.samsung.com>

LG Electronics is going to introduce four K series, K3, K4, K8, and K10. Among them, K10 has a 5.3 inch FHD LCD and it is changed to X series in Korea and is expected to be released at the end of January.

Meanwhile, there is an opinion that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics’ plan to release low to mid-end smartphones is a bulwark against Huawei which announced the entry into the North American smartphone market.

Huawei has recently partnered with AT&T to sell the Mate 10 series in the US from February 2018. Mate 10 has a 5.9 inch IPS LCD, and Mate 10 PRO has a 6-inch OLED. Huawei announced that it will aggressively advance into the North American market to become the world’s second-largest smartphone maker, outpacing Apple this year.

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics intend to strengthen their low to mid-end smartphone specifications up to the premium level as well as their flagship smartphones to dominate the smartphone market until new mainstream smartphones are launched and to check other companies including Huawei.

Meanwhile, more details such as the price and mobile provider of Huawei Mate 10 series to be released in North America will be disclosed at the CES 2018 exhibition.

<Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro, Source: GSMArena.com>

 

Completed the Construction of CSOT Wuhan Gen6 LTPS OLED Fab

On December 28, CSOT’s Wuhan Gen6 LTPS OLED(T4 fab) production line was announced to be completed four months ahead of schedule. CSOT started building T4 fab in June 2017 and built a factory with a capacity of about 600,000 pyeong(1,983,471 m²) in 199 days. The total investment amount is reported to be 5,080 million dollars.

<CSOT’s T4 Production Line Rendering Image, Source: China Daily>

CSOT’s T4 fab has received attention as China’s first Gen6 flexible LTPS OLED production line. T4 fab is known to have a production capacity of 45,000 units per month, and it is expected to mass-produce small and medium-sized flexible OLEDs and foldable OLEDs.

Meanwhile, CSOT said that the next step is to build clean rooms and have equipment and they aim to start producing in 2019.