Fewer Notches and More Punch Holes! OLED Smartphones Released in 2022

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OLED Smartphone Market Share Released in 2021 (left) and 2022 (~3Q, right)

OLED Smartphone Market Share Released in 2021 (left) and 2022 (~3Q, right)

Among OLED smartphones released in 2022, the market share of smartphones with notch and narrow bezel designs decreased by 6.1% and 1.9%, respectively, compared to 2021.

Among a total of 171 OLED smartphones released by September 2022, 145 types of punch hole design, 13 types of notch, 8 types of narrow bezel, and 5 types of UPC (Under panel camera) were released. The total number of OLED smartphones released is similar to that of 2021, but the notch and narrow bezel designs are close to half of those in 2021. On the other hand, the market share of smartphones with punch-hole design increased by 8.3% compared to 2021, accounting for 84.8%.

In particular, Apple applied a punch hole design to the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models instead of the previously applied notch. With Samsung Electronics and Apple, the punch hole design is expected to become more and more of the main technology in the future.

OLED smartphones released by Q3 2022 ppi by size

OLED smartphones released by Q3 2022 ppi by size

As for the size, there were 145 types of smartphones in the range of 6.4x to 6.7x, accounting for 84.8% of the market share. In addition, 4 products in the 7-inch range, 3 products in the 8-inch range, and 1 product in the 5-inch range were released. All 7-inch and larger products were foldable phones.

By resolution, 78 products in the 300ppi range and 80 products in the 400ppi range were released. Compared to 2021, the market share of 300ppi products increased by 7.1% and the 400ppi range products decreased by 4.5%. Thirteen products with 500ppi or higher were released and the product with the highest resolution was Sony’s ‘Xperia 1 IV’ at 643ppi.

Due to the nature of the fourth quarter, where the number of products released is smaller than in the second and third quarters, the number of OLED smartphone launches in 2022 is expected to be similar to or slightly less than that of 226 in 2021.

97.5% of 6-inch OLED smartphones released in the first half of 2021

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Of the 122 OLED smartphones released in the first half of 2021, 119 6-inch smartphones were released, occupying an overwhelming share of 97.5%. Compared to the 6-inch smartphones released in 2018, which accounted for 78% of the total, it has become the mainstream of the smartphone market in just three years. One 5-inch model and two 8-inch models were released, and the 7-inch model was not released. The 5-inch model is Asus’ Zenfone8, the 8-inch model is Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Fold, and Huawei’s Mate X2.

By display design, hole model was released the most with 103, followed by notch model with 13 and narrow bezel model with 6. As in 2020, products with a home button were not released.

Looking at the distribution by resolution, 400~500ppi products were released the most with 64, accounting for 52.5% of the market share, 48 products with less than 400ppi and 10 products with more than 500ppi. The highest resolution product was Sony’s Xperia 1 II, which recorded 643 ppi.

In the display area (D.A), which is the ratio of the display to the size of the smartphone, products belonging to 80-90% accounted for 84.4%, 13.9% of those over 90% and less than 80% were not released. This is analyzed as a result of the disappearance of the home button and the continuous release of full-screen smartphones. The product with the highest D.A was 94.1%, which was occupied by Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro 4G, followed by Huawei’s Nova 8 pro in second place and Honor’s View40 in third place.

Finally, by country, China released the most with 104, followed by Korea with 12, Taiwan with 4, and Japan and Germany with 1 each.

Why did Apple choose LTPO?

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  • Utilizing high refresh rate and reducing power consumption by up to 20%
  • but, 30% more complex process

LTPO (Low Temperature Poly-crystalline Oxide) is an Apple’s technology made by combining LTPS (Low Temperature Poly-Silicon) and Oxide (oxide semiconductor, mainly IGZO) TFT technology. It is characterized by further improving power efficiency by using LTPS with fast electron mobility and oxide with less leakage current.

LTPS TFT with fast electron mobility is applied as a driving role, and oxide TFT with low leakage current is applied as a switch.

LTPO was first applied to smart watches before smartphones. The first device to be applied is the Apple Watch Series 4, released in 2018, and was supplied exclusively by LG Display. Samsung Electronics also applied LTPO to the Galaxy Watch Active 2 in 2019.

Apple Watch with LTPO applied       

     Galaxy Watch Active 2

LTPO technology, which is characterized by low power, is suitable for 5G smartphones that consume more power than existing LTE and is in high demand from major smartphone manufacturers. Samsung Display launched the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, the first smartphone to which LTPO technology was applied.

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with LTPO applied

It is expected that Samsung Display will dominate the market as it is leading in technology of LTPO OLED panels for Smartphones, and as a latecomer, LG Display is known to develop panels to be applied to the iPhone, which is scheduled to be released next year.

LTPO technology does not only have the advantage of low power. Because masks are added during the process, the unit price is increased due to the complexity of the process. Manufacturing methods are completely different from existing LTPS and Oxide TFT, and processes are more than 30% complicated. Complex manufacturing processes lead to higher unit prices.

From a manufacturer’s perspective, LTPO application effect must be as large as the increased process unit price. Considering this, it is analyzed that the need and effect of LTPO application are greater (because of the always-on display function) than smartphones. Smartwatches also had a greater effect on lowering power consumption than smartphones. If LTPO is applied, the refresh rate can be lowered, which reduces power consumption, because smartphones require a high refresh rate. The refresh rate is a figure that shows how many scenes are shown per second, and the higher the refresh rate, the smoother the screen transition.

In the case of smartphones, if you play games or watch videos, you can quickly switch to the screen with high refresh rates, allowing you to experience smooth and smooth gaming. Recently released flagship Smartphones are currently supporting 120Hz refresh rate. Considering this trend, LTPO technology, which can reduce screen conversion, is not very suitable for smartphone utilization.

However, in a still picture, LTPS requires a driving of 60Hz to maintain the brightness of the screen due to a high leakage current, but the oxide TFT can be driven at 1Hz because of a low leakage current, so there is no decrease in brightness.

As a result, the LTPO TFT has the effect of reducing the total power in mobile devices by 10% to 15% compared to the LTPS TFT.

To take advantage of LTPO’s technology, new applications and services that consumers want are needed. If it is always turned on and has a function to flow information or a service function to view information by turning on only a certain part of it, OLED and LTPO technologies will be combined and used as an advantage.

 

Equipped with OLED panel on Samsung Display in Hyundai Electric Vehicle’Ionic 5′

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  • Samsung Display’s first OLED panel mounted on Hyundai’s first exclusive electric vehicle,’Ionic 5′
  • Optional digital side mirror to mount camera and display screen
  • Significantly helps to improve the mileage and fuel economy of electric vehicles

Samsung Display’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display will be used in Hyundai Motor’s first exclusive electric car,’Ionic 5′.

▲ Inside Hyundai’s first exclusive electric car Ionic 5

Ionic 5 can choose a side view camera as an option along with a standard side mirror that uses a regular mirror as before. With this option, there are no mirrors on the side mirrors. In the digital side mirror, a camera is mounted in the place of a general side mirror and a display is located inside. You can see the back and surroundings of the vehicle using the camera and display screen. The wider field of view reduces blind spots and has the advantage of being able to see the surroundings brightly even in the dark underground or at night. This display screen is Samsung Display’s OLED product.

The contract for supplying OLED for vehicles is significant in that it is a 10-year contract between Hyundai Motor Company and Samsung. Samsung Display signed a contract to supply 8-inch LCDs for navigation in 2011, and supplied supplies for three years, but there was no significant business link between the two groups. Hyundai Motor Group selected Samsung Display as the first supplier when it first selected OLED as a vehicle display. As Hyundai Motor adopts Samsung products for its first dedicated electric vehicle with high symbolism, analysts say that the scope of cooperation between Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung will continue to expand in the automotive industry.

Samsung Display has been supplying OLED displays to Audi’s electric vehicle ‘e-tron’ that applied the same system under the name of ‘virtual side mirror’ from 2018.

Audi’s first pure electric car’e-tron 55 quattro’ was applied with ‘virtual side mirrors’ for the first time in mass-produced cars. Are collected.

▲ Audi e-tron ‘Virtual Exterior Mirror’ with Samsung OLED

When the camera is mounted on the side mirror, it improves the aerodynamic flow, greatly helping to improve the mileage of electric vehicles and increase fuel efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles. In addition, even if the window is covered by snow or rain and it is difficult to see the outside, the side view can be clearly seen through the internal display.

▲ Hyundai Ionic 5’digital side mirror’ equipped with Samsung OLED

The e-tron is equipped with a diamond-shaped OLED display, but the digital side mirror of Hyundai Ionic 5 has a square display design. When I got on the inside of the vehicle and looked at the digital side mirror, I could clearly see the outside from the inside through the screen. In addition, the screen response speed was also smoothly driven without interruption. It is a structure that can easily adapt to drivers who were used to the existing mirror-type side.

 

 

 

 

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 image leak, internal and external displays become bigger

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<The first supposed official render of Galaxy Z Fold2, Source: twitter.com/ishanagarwal24>

On 21 July, information leaker for IT new product, Ishan Agarwal, released an image presumed to be a rendered photo of ‘Galaxy Z Fold2’ on his Twitter.

Galaxy Z Fold2 will be released at the end of September, about two months after it was unveiled at the Galaxy Unpack event on the 5th of next month.

Inside the Galaxy Z Fold2, a 7.7-inch foldable OLED that is larger than the previous Galaxy Fold’s 7.3-inch screen is used, and the cover window material of the foldable OLED is UTG. The size of the external OLED is 6.23 inch, which is 1.63 inch larger than the previous one.

The rear camera is equipped with a 1,800-megapixel main camera, a triple (three) camera and a flight distance sensor (ToF), and the internal camera is known to be located in the center of the right screen in the form of a punch hole, but can’t see in this image.

Expected touch pens do not apply to this model. The shipping price is expected to be 2.3 million won, which is about 100,000 won cheaper than the previous one.

Who is the supplier of OLED panels for iPhone 12?

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<Image of iPhone 12 Pro Max, Source: EveryApplePro>

Apple’s new iPhone 12 will be consisted of 4 models, and all 4 models are expected to adopt OLED. The general lineup of the iPhone 12 is the 5.4 inch iPhone 12 and the 6.1 inch iPhone 12 Max, and the pro lineup is the 6.1 inch iPhone Pro and the 6.7 inch iPhone Pro Max.

Recently, rumors are floating that BOE will supply OLED of 5.4 inch and 6.1 inch general models, and Samsung Display will supply OLED of 6.1 inch and 6.7 inch pro models. Due to the news that Chinese OLED panel manufacturer BOE is supplying OLEDs to Apple, the interest of OLED-related companies such as light-emitting material companies and component companies is growing day by day.

According to UBI Research, BOE is developing 5.4 inch and 6.1 inch OLEDs, but has not received any calls from Apple. In the current situation, Samsung Display plans to supply 5.4 inch, 6.1 inch, and 6.7 inch OLEDs, and LG Display and BOE are developing 6.1 inch OLEDs.

The BOE hasn’t gotten a clear call yet, but there’s plenty of time left for the mass production of the iPhone 12, so there’s plenty of room for the BOE to get a call from Apple. While the production of the iPhone 12 is likely to be delayed by about a month due to the corona incident, it usually takes 4 ~ 5 months from the OLED panel test to the mass production of the set, so there is enough time.

Related information can also be found in the recent report of ‘change in OLED market by coronavirus’, published by UBI Research.

Huawei’s OLED TV launch, LG Electronics, and Sony’s 48-inch OLED TV Launch Will Further Increase the Influence of OLED TV to Oppo?

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Huawei launch its first OLED TV and LG Electronics and Sony will launch a new lineup, a 48-inch OLED TV. As a result, the OLED TV camp and lineup are expected to become more diverse.

First, Huawei will launch its first OLED TV X65 soon. X65 is used a 24-megapixel camera to control the TV with a ‘gesture tracking’ function that recognizes the user’s face, motion, and posture, and is equipped with 14 under-screen speakers to automatically To correct the sound. The X65 used LG Display’s OLED will be released on April 8.

China’s OLED TV camp has increased to five camps from Skyworth, Konka, Changhong, and Xiaomi to Huawei. In addition, Huawei’s OLED TV launch, which is leading the Chinese smartphone market, can have a great influence on the premium TV market in the future.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics and Sony, which are leading the OLED TV market, will launch a new 48-inch OLED TV to make the lineup more diverse. Currently, OLED TVs have only 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch lineups, and are evaluated to have a relatively short lineup compared to LCD TVs. LG Electronics and Sony are planning to target the Japanese or European market with high preference for small TVs through the launch of this 48-inch OLED TV.

LG Electronics and Sony’s 48-inch OLED TVs are scheduled to be released in May and July, respectively.

It is noteworthy whether OLED TV will exert great influence once again in the premium TV market in 2020, such as Huawei joining the OLED TV camp and LG Electronics and Sony launching the first 48-inch OLED TV.

OPPO Launches All-round 5G Flagship Find X2 Series with Industry-leading Screen

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OPPO unveiled its Find X2 series March 6, 2020 – a flagship lineup of 5G devices that delivers a powerful camera experience and battery life, with one of the most advanced screens in the industry.

In the 5G era, with the improvement of the network, users are now consuming content at a much faster rate and simultaneously have higher requirements for the content quality. Catering to these needs, Find X2 is equipped with a 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED screen, an all-round ultra-vision-camera system, the industry’s fastest 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 flash charging technology and the most advanced 5G mobile platform—Snapdragon 865. The Find X2 Pro is also the first mobile phone to support all-pixel omnidirectional focus and up to 12bit photo capturing.

Both Find X2 and Find X2 Pro are equipped with an OPPO customized 120Hz 6.7inch QHD+ Ultra Vision Screen with more than one billion variations of color display capabilities, bringing a visual revolution in resolution, color, refresh rate and brightness. With a resolution of 3168×1440, 513 ppi, ultra-low screen reflectivity and a maximum screen brightness of up to 1200nit, it creates a clear and comfortable display in any environment.

The Find X2 series adopts a front and back sleek double-curve body design. The front of Find X2 series is covered with Corning Gorilla’s sixth-generation glass panel. The advanced COP packaging technology and the 67.8° curved surface design create a visually borderless effect, making the phone round and smooth to touch.

Galaxy S20 series, Korea’s first day of opening about 70,000 units

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The opening volume of Samsung’s new smartphone Galaxy S20 series on the first day in Korea is half that of last year’s Galaxy S10.

According to the Korean telecommunications industry on February 28, the opening volume of the Galaxy S20 series is estimated at about 70,800 units. This figure is about 50% lower than the 140,000 units of the Galaxy S10, which was released in March last year.

In the industry, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is equipped with an 108 million pixel camera, so it was expected that the S20 series, which greatly enhanced the camera function, will be in high demand.

The decrease in the opening volume of the Galaxy S20 is estimated to have reduced demand for the Galaxy S20 due to the decrease in offline visitors due to the spread of the new corona virus.

LG Display named Huawei flexible OLED supplier for new smartphone P40 Pro

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LG Display is the top OLED company with a monopoly market in the production of OLED panels for TVs, but the performance was low in the flexible OLED market for smartphones until the first half of 2019.

LG Display built a flexible OLED line after Samsung Display and focused on panel sales, but failed to supply flexible OLED by pushing BOE to Huawei’s P30 Pro model in 2019. However, in the second half of 2019, it succeeded in supplying panels to Huawei for Mate30 Pro, and began supplying flexible OLED for iPhone to Apple.

Huawei’s P40 Pro shipment target is 12 million units, and LG Display is expected to supply 50%. The variable is a new coronavirus. It could change Huawei’s smartphone launch schedule and volume.

Huawei is highly dependent on domestic demand, and coronaviruses can reduce shipments by more than 10%.

Compal develops 13-inch foldable PC FlexBook

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Compal, an ODM for notebook and mobile devices, has developed a prototype foldable hybrid tablet that can be equipped with a keyboard. Similar to Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold, Compal’s FlexBook is a 13.1 tablet with two speakers at the bottom, two USB-C ports, and a volume button on the side.

The tablet can be folded in half with a foldable OLED and a zero gap lay flat hinge. Fold in half to use it like a notebook. Attach a keyboard to make it easier to use. This product can use stylus.

IPhone shipments may drop sharply in 1Q

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The impact of China’s corona virus is expected to reduce iPhone production by 50% year-on-year.

Foxconn’s iPhone plants are located in Zhangzhou and Shenzhen, China, where 90% of the iPhone is manufactured.

Foxconn’s Zhangzhou’s workforce is about 160,000, but only about 10% have returned since the spring holiday, and the Shenzhen plant has not resumed production.

Foxonn plans to increase overall utilization by 80% in March. For the time being, iPhone production is expected to decline.

Foxconn pays 3000 yuan (about $ 400) per person if it returns before March 7th to increase plant utilization.

Motorola unveils clamshell-type foldable OLED smartphone

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Reporter : Daejeong Yoon

Motorola unveiled “ Moto RAZR 2019 ”, a clamshell type foldable OLED smartphone at a presentation to be held in Los Angeles, USA on November 13th. The Motorola RAZR is characterized by the folding in the horizontal direction rather than the vertical folding like a book, and is like the new foldable phone type that Samsung Electronics unveiled at SDC 2019 last October.

<Moto RAZR 2019, Source: gsmarena.com>

Moto RAZR 2019 will be equipped with a 6.2-inch OLED and the vendor will be BOE. OLEDs are notched, with an aspect ratio of 22: 9 and a resolution of 2142 x 876. In addition, the external LCD is equipped with a 2.7-inch, 600 x 800 resolution secondary LCD to provide simple information such as reminders and time.

Moto RAZR 2019 will be equipped with three cameras, with 4GB / 6GB RAM, 128GB of storage, 2730mAh and an operating system of Android.

Moto RAZR 2019 is expected to cost USD 1,500 and is expected to be officially released in December.

OLED TV camp threw a pitch in the 65-inch TV market for Black Friday.

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On Black Friday, the day of the biggest sale season in the US, LG Electronics and Sony have lowered the price of 65-inch OLED TVs from the previous month, further increasing price competition in the premium TV market. On the other hand, 55-inch and 77-inch OLED TV prices are the same except for Sony’s XBR77A9G.

In November, LG Electronics’ OLED 65C9, a 65-inch OLED TV, was priced at US $ 2,100, down 12.5% from October’s US $ 2,400. Sony’s XBR65A8G’s November price was US $ 2,000, down 13% from the October price of US $ 2,300. Both models ship the same price at US $ 3,500.

Samsung’s QN65Q90, a 2019 QLED TV, is priced at US $ 2,200 in November, down 15.4% from the October price of US $ 2,600. The QN65Q90 also ships at US $ 3,500.

<LG Electronics’ OLED65C9, Sony’s XBR65A8G, and Samsung’s QN65Q90 price trend, Source: UBI Research DB, Bestbuy.com>

In the TV market, which is growing in size, 65-inch TVs are becoming mainstream along with 55-inch TVs. Since 55-inch OLED TVs have already formed a premium TV standard of US $ 1,500 since October, LG Electronics and Sony have continued to reduce the price of 65-inch OLED TVs, another mainstream, to compete with QLED TVs.

Since August, LG Electronics’ OLED65C9 and Sony’s XBR65A8G have formed a lower price range than Samsung’s QN65Q90, and Black Friday is also trying to get a price advantage with a price lower than QN65Q90.

LG Electronics and Sony, which are striving to popularize OLED TVs, are paying attention to whether OLED TV’s position in the premium TV market can be further expanded.

Samsung Display starts to expand OLED notebook market in Taiwan

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Samsung Display attended the Taipei Grand Maple Hotel on November 7, attended by 350 global customers including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and other major ODMs such as Compal, Quanta and Wistron. ‘Samsung OLED Forum 2019 Taipei’ was held.

<Samsung Display’s OLED Forum, Source: news.samsungdisplay.com>

Samsung Display presented OLED notebooks as a new growth engine in the stagnant IT market for global IT companies and introduced differentiated strengths that only OLED can provide.

Under the theme of ‘New Era of Laptop with OLED’, Samsung Display is a premium notebook with OLED’s thin and light design flexibility, infinite contrast ratio, DCI-P3 100% wide color gamut and color accuracy, and excellent outdoor visibility. Emphasis is placed on the essential image quality characteristics.

In addition, the company also unveiled a roadmap for fusion technology of OLED’s unique display sensors such as Fingerprint Display and Sound Display.

Samsung Display has already developed OLED for 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch notebooks in the first half of this year and has cooperated with HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Asus to supply panels to 13 kinds of notebooks. The company plans to expand its product lineup to mid-end and respond to market demand.

<15.6-inch multi-screen OLED notebook exhibited by Samsung display at IMID 2019>

[IFA2019] Sony’s OLED TV Evolving from Year to Year

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Sony, which is driving the OLED TV market with LG Electronics, is exhibiting OLED TVs with new features at CES and IFA after the first display of OLED TVs.

The OLED TV displayed at Sony’s booth, which was first opened on Media Day of IFA2019, did not show a woofer. Using surface acoustic technology to produce sound from the screen, Sony showcased the CES2019’s model with four actuators on the back of the OLED panel and a woofer speaker as the rear stand. However, the woofers disappeared in IFA2019.

According to exhibition officials, the secret is that the panel is arranged with six actuators, three rows of two behind the panel, so that sound can be displayed on the screen from low to high.

LG Display “OLED TV will account for more than 20% in total TV sales revenue.”

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LG Display OLED TV maintained sales revenue, it through conference call, stated it recorded annual sales revenue of 24.3 trillion won and 92.9 billion won operating profit in year of 2018.

LG Display despite of heightened global competition and downward panel price made an operating profit thanks to OLED TV, super large size TV and high resolution products.

Especially large size OLED TV maintained stable productivity and enlarged consumer bracket which enabled 2.9 million shipment on a yearly basis. It recorded gross profit within 5 years of product introduction which resulted in more than 20% in total sales revenue.

4th quarter 2018 revenue of LG display marked 6.95 trillion won TV panels accounts for 36%, mobile panels 28%, notebook and tablet panels 22% and 14% for monitor panels.

Operating profit recorded 279 billion won, 528% increase compared to the same quarter last year, 99% hike compared to last quarter thanks to high priced IT products, new introductions of small and medium size products and high added value products. LG Display aims to focus on OLED business reconstruction Seo Donghee CFO of the company said, “the ratio of OLED revenue was almost nothing 5years ago, now it is 30% this year and we estimate it is going to reach 50% of the total business.”

He also said “we will put in all assets to create new values focusing on OLED business.”

He replied to the question of large size QD-OLED of competitor, it will strengthen ecosystem and overall OLED industry. To the question of 8K and over 70inch large size OLED mass production, he replied that 8K technology is already secured as exhibited at CES2019 and said that large size OLED mass production will utilize the existing know-how of LCD production. In 2019, LG Display’s OLED demand outlook question suggests that demand for more than 14% of all flexible OLED smartphones is expected.

Regarding the large-area OLED and p OLED capacity in 2019, LGD said that the large-area OLED capacity will be completed at 70K per month in Paju and 60K in Q3 in Guangzhou, China and the pOLED capacity is expected to add 30K to the domestic 45K in 2020.

He announced that capex is estimated 8trillion won in 2019 and 4trillion won in 2020, a half of this year. 60% will be for large size OLED and 40% for pOLED. And he said pOLED mass production is currently concentrated on smart phone and cars. He expects good news from car pOLED by end of this year. He also targets over 3.8 million units large size OLED production this year.

55 inch and 65 inch OLED TV prices proximity to premium LCD TV

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Recently, Sony’s 65 inch OLED TV, XBR65A1E, is price at US$ 300 more than Samsung’s QN65Q7 on the Best Buy basis. Prices of LED TV and LCD TV are becoming increasingly competitiveness in the premium TV market.

As of January 16, Best Buy compares the price of OLED TVs between LG’s C8 series, Sony’s A1E series and Samsung’s Q7F series.

<55 inch premium TV price comparison>

LG’s OLED 55C8 prices dropped 47% from March 2018 to US$ 1,700, which is only US$ 200 higher than Samsung’s QN55Q7.

<65 inch premium TV price comparison>

In the 65 inch TV market, LG’s OLED65C8 price dropped 30% from March 2018 to US$ 2,700, while Sony fell 40% to US$ 2,500, which is higher than Samsung’s QN65Q7 by US$ 500 and US$ 300. The prices gap has been greatly reduced.

In the premium TV market, OLED TVs are rapidly catching up with LCD TV prices because LG Display’s OLED production yield stabilization is the biggest factor.

LG Display is currently constructing Gen8 OLED lines in Guangzhou and Gen10.5 lines in Paju. As a result, the production of large size OLED will increase further, and the OLED TV market will become more prominent in the premium TV market.

The Meaning of ‘Flexpai’, the World’s First Foldable Mobile Phone

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Reporter : Daejeong Yoon

Having a Gen5.5 7.5K line in Shenzhen, Royole is known as a head mount display (HMD) company rather than a display company. After completing installation of equipment in the second quarter of this year, Royole has been developing panels for the target of 7.8-inch tablet PC.
RoYole has two peculiarities in OLED field. One is the world’s first mass-production of foldable OLEDs and the other is the first use of oxide TFTs in mobile displays.

Source: Royole Homepage

Because plastic film is used for the cover window of foldable phone, the display of out folding foldable phone is very likely to be damaged due to the external environment.

In fact, Samsung Display already developed a QHD resolution outfolding foldable OLED with a bending radius of 5 mm a few years ago, but the company plans to mass produce infolding foldable OLED to minimize damage to the screen from December.

Since Royole has not yet produced products with oxide TFT, the company has not achieved complete TFT reliability. Because of very low yield for the time, the available supply volume is expected to be limited even if the sales begin.

Apple adopts LTPO TFT to extend battery life time to Apple Watch Series 4

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Reporter & Analyst : Daejeong Yoon

Apple released its Apple Watch Series 4 with enhanced healthcare features on a larger screen than before, in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in California, USA on September 12.

<Apple Watch Series 4, Source: Apple.com>

In this announcement, Apple brought Apple watch series 4 with a new technology called LTPO to improve power efficiency.

LTPO stands for low temperature polycrystalline oxide. It is a kind of TFT using only the advantages of poly-Si with good charge mobility and IGZO with low power driving. LTPO TFTs have low leakage current and good on / off characteristics, which lowers power consumption and increases battery life.

<Apple’s LTPO TFT patent>

In addition, Apple increased the size of its Apple Watch 4 to 40mm and 44mm. The edge-to-edge screen is 35% and 32% larger than previous models by narrowing the bezel compared to previous models. The screen resolution was 368×448 pixels for the 44mm model and 324×394 pixels for the 40mm model. The display of Apple Watch4 is a plastic OLED made by LG Display with a maximum brightness of 1,000 nit. The Apple Watch Series 4 starts at US$399 for GPS model, while the cellular model starts at US$499. The Apple Watch Series 4 is available for pre-order from Septmber14 in the U.S. with the availability beginning September 21.

Samsung Display, supplies 7-inch OLED for Virtual Exterior Mirror to Audi

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Samsung Display announced on October 3 that the company will be supplying a 7-inch OLED display for Audi’s all-new electric Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), the Audi e-tron®. The Audi e-tron has attracted attention throughout the automotive industry. One of its highlights are optional* ‘virtual exterior mirrors’ – a ‘first’ for a volume-production car.

Audi’s virtual exterior mirrors feature a small side-view camera instead of the existing side mirrors. The driver can view the images captured by the camera in real time through the OLED display installed between the vehicle’s A pillar (the column next to the front glass) and the door.

<Virtual exterior mirror applied to e-Tron, Audi, Source: news.samsungdisplay.com>

The OLED display supplied by Samsung Display is equipped with one camera on each side of the vehicle dashboard, replacing the existing side mirror function, and the built-in touch sensor allows people to zoom in or out on the screen as if to manipulate a smartphone. Audi said the Virtual Exterior Mirror offers a wider field of view without blind spots, compared to a typical side mirror. It provides better visibility even on cloudy days and in dark places, and it provides a ‘view mode’ suitable for each driving situation such as highway driving, rotation, parking, etc for more convenient and safe driving. By eliminating the side mirrors that protrude out of the vehicle, it reduces air resistance and wind noise. Also, slim and beautiful design is possible, reducing the body width by 5.9 inches.

The images seen on the Samsung display that covers each virtual exterior mirror appear natural and distinct with none of the drag effects typically triggered by a slow response rate at low temperatures, while exhibiting outstanding color reproducibility. The Samsung 7-inch OLED display provides Audi e-tron drivers with an ideal visual solution, thanks to its low power consumption and innovatively thin, lightweight design, in addition to its superior imaging.

Jeeho Baek, Senior Vice President of Samsung Display, said “It is inspiring to many that our OLED display is used in Audi’s virtual exterior mirror, demonstrating that Samsung OLED technology is being optimized for cutting-edge automobile systems around the world. We will continue to actively support leading automotive manufacturers in helping them to advance the future automotive market through the use of our OLED display technology with its high resolution, advanced designs and low power consumption.”

 

 

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8K OLED TV, Can we see it in the second half of the year?

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Competition in the premium TV market is expected to be cutthroat.

The market share of OLED TV is on the rise in the premium TV market due to Sony’s entry into the OLED TV market and LG Electronics’ aggressive price cuts. However, LCD camp is responding with 8K high-resolution strategy, and attention is focused on whether it can prevent the rise of OLED in the premium TV market.

Sharp has already started selling 8K LCD TVs for the first time in the world since last year. Samsung Electronics showcased 8K TV at CES earlier this year, and will launch 8 K QLED (QD-LCD) products in the second half of the year. In the OLED camp, LG Display exhibited 88inch 8K OLED TV at CES, but the launch of 8K OLED TV in the second half is still unknown.

OLED TVs, which are currently in mass production, are based on bottom emission type. Thus, the light is emitted from the remaining portion of the pixel except the TFT region since the light is emitted through the TFT. Therefore, in the same size TV, as the resolution increases, the pixel size becomes smaller, but the area where the size of the TFT is reduced is limited, so that the area where the light is emitted becomes narrower. Consequently, in order to realize a high resolution at the same size, it is necessary to broaden the aperture ratio as much as possible or improve the performance of the emitting materials.

 

As a way of increasing the aperture ratio, there is a method of applying a top emission structure. Since the top emission structure emits light in the encapsulation direction, not the TFT direction, it can secure a wider aperture ratio than the bottom emission. However, there are pending problems that the encapsulation using opaque metal sheet should be changed to a transparent material and the color filter should be formed above the encapsulation with the change of the process.

The development of TADF blue and new blue materials is actively underway in the emitting material side.

The 88inch 8K OLED TV released by LG Display is made with a bottom emission structure and its ppi is about 100, which is about 20% higher than 80 ppi of the 55inch 4K currently being sold. When the pixel size is compared with the whole display size, the 55 inch 4K pixel is calculated to be about 40% wider than the 88inch 8k pixel.

In order to achieve the same level of brightness and lifetime as 55inch 4K, it is necessary to optimize the TFT design and improve the performance of the emitting materials to make up for the 40% decrease in pixel size. The industry is paying attention to whether the 8K OLED TV will be launched, with resolving above-mentioned issues, against the 8K LCD TV, which is expected to be released in the second half of the year.

Vivo released OLED smart phone with more than 90% display area.

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Vivo, a Chinese Smartphone maker, announced on June 12 that it will launch a new full-screen OLED Smartphone ‘NEX’ as its flagship line.

NEX is the mass production model of ‘APEX’ which Vivo showed in MWC 2018 held in February. By hiding the camera at the top of the Smartphone and embedding fingerprint recognition in the display, Vivo accomplished D.A (display area) up to 91.2%.

The camera is provided in a pop-up form only when the picture is taken with the interfaced application. The speaker is built into the OLED display, and the display carries sound.

<Vivo’s new flagship model ‘NEX’, Source: netmag.pk>

Meanwhile, NEX is to be the first OLED Smartphone with over 90% D.A. Galaxy S8, the first full-screen OLED Smartphone with removing a home button, is 83.6% of D.A. D.A of the Vivo X20 Plus UD, the Smartphone that had the largest D.A to date, is 85.8%. According to GSMARENA, the NEX S, the high-end model of NEX, is equipped with a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB RAM, 128/256GB storage and 4000mAh battery in a 6.59 inch FHD OLED. The entry-level model NEX A is applied with Snapdragon 710 Processor, 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage on the same OLED display.

Xiaomi re-adopts OLED in two years.

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After two years of the launch of Redmi Pro and Mi Note2 in 2016, Xiaomi adopted OLED again.

On May 31, Xiaomi unveiled its flagship smartphones such as Mi8, Mi8 Explorer Edition, Mi8 SE, and its smart watch Mi band3, to mark the eighth anniversary of its founding.

Xiaomi implemented the full-screen by applying a notch design to the Mi8. The size of the OLED applied to the Mi8 is 6.21 inch and the resolution is 2248×1080 (402ppi). The display area, which represents the percentage of display to smartphone, is 83.8%.

Compared with the iPhoneX, it features the same notch design, OLED application, and vertical dual camera. However, the size of the display is about 0.4 inch bigger, and the display area is about 0.9% wider. Unlike iPhoneX, there is a difference that there is a bezel at the bottom.

<Comparison between iPhoneX and Mi8, source: GSMARENA>

Compared to the Redmi Pro launched in 2016, the display increased by about 21%, DA by about 16%. In comparison with the Mi Note2, the display was widened by about 9% and DA by about 13%.

<Comparison of display size and display area for the smartphones applied with OLED>

The display of the Mi8 Explorer Edition has the same specifications as the Mi8. However, you can see the parts of the smart phone directly by eye because the back side is transparent. Like the VivoX21, fingerprint recognition is possible from the front of the display.

Xiaomi’s Mi8 SE applies with a 5.88-inch OLED with a resolution of 1080×2244 (423ppi), and Mi band3, the successor to Mi band2, has a 0.78-inch OLED.

The Mi8 and Mi8 SE is to be released on June 5 and 8 and will be sold for RMB 2,699 (about Korean Won 450,000) and RMB 1,799 yuan (about Korean Won 300,000 won) respectively. The release date of Mi8 explorer is not yet fixed and its supply price is expected to be RMB 3,699 (about Korean Won 620,000).

Samsung Electronics, is increasing full screen rigid OLED adoption

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Samsung Electronics is expected to launch next-generation smartphones with full-screen rigid OLEDs, next to the popular Galaxy A8 (2018) series. Accordingly, attention is focused whether the sluggish rigid OLED market will revive.

In early May, Samsung Electronics unveiled ‘Galaxy A6 (2018)’ and ‘Galaxy A6 + (2018)’ with full screen rigid OLED, eliminating the home button. The Galaxy A6 (2018) adopts rigid OLED with HD + (1480 x 720) resolution at 5.6 inch, and the Galaxy A6 + (2018) is applied with rigid OLED with FHD + (2220 x 1080) resolution at 6.0 inch.

<Samsung Galaxy A6(2018), Source: GSM-specs.com>

On the other hand, the official rendering image of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy J6 (2018), another entry-level smartphone, was leaked through WinFuture, the German media on May 16.

<Samsung Galaxy J6(2018), Source: WinFuture>

The Galaxy J6 (2018) is expected to have 5.6-inch rigid OLED with FHD + (2220 x 1080) resolution. Both the Galaxy A6 series and the Galaxy J6 are expected to be launched around the end of May.

Recently, the demand for rigid OLED for smartphone market has decreased due to the introduction of full screen LCD as well as LCD adoption in low-priced smartphones. Consequently, the utilization rate of rigid OLED mass production line has also decreased. According to UBI Research, rigid OLED shipments rose steadily from 2014 to 2016, but 290 million units were shipped in 2017, 8% down from the previous year.

However, the full screen rigid OLED, which was launched in the second half of 2017, started to be adopted in the VIVO X20 and Galaxy A8, and has been expanded to be applied to a number of smartphones such as the Galaxy A6 series and Galaxy J6. As the utilization rate of rigid OLED mass production lines is expected to normalize from the second half of this year, attention is growing whether rigid OLED market will be rebounded again.

LG OLED TV was selected as the best TV for 3 consecutive years

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At the best 2018 TV released recently by Consumer Reports, US consumer magazine, LG Electronics’ 65-inch OLED TV ‘OLED65C8PUA’ was selected as the best product among all the products.

<LG Electronics’ OLED65C8PUA, Source: lg.com>

Consumer Reports notes that the OLED65C8 has a good balance of price and performance. With the excellent quality of images including excellent high definition, UHD performance, and infinite viewing angles, it mentions that ThinQ AI platform, an artificial intelligence platform, is also excellent.

LG Electronics’ OLED TV series has remained in the first place for three consecutive years since being selected as the best product in 2016. In particular, the OLED TV released this year was upgraded to higher quality by installing ‘Alpha 9′, a proprietary image quality chip developed by LG Electronics, to reduce noise to half compared with previous models, and to achieve accurate colors with more sophisticated color coordinates.

On the other hand, LG Electronics’ OLED TV continues to secure its position in the premium TV market. LG Electronics announced at the conference call held on April, 26th that the sales revenue and operating profit of its HE (Home Entertainment) business division were recorded KRW 4.12 trillion and KRW W577.3 billion, respectively in the first quarter of 2018. In particular, OLED TVs and UHD TVs led the growth. The operating margin reached 14.0%.

According to LG Electronics, it will continue to operate TV business with profitability. The proportion of OLED TV sales is expected to grow from 10 percent last year to mid 10% ~20% of the total TV sales this year.

OLED smartphones of the notch design type, will become trends in 2018?

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Since Apple first unveiled its OLED smartphone in the notch design type on iPhone X, lots of smartphone makers are to release OLED smartphones in succession. Attention is focused whether notch-type OLED smartphones will be become trends in the smartphone market in 2018.

Apple, which introduced notch-type OLED smartphones for the first time, is expected to launch notch-type smartphones for all three iPhone models in 2018. According to Mac Rumors, Apple will release an iPhone X successor with 5.8-inch OLED, a 6.5-inch OLED iPhone X Plus (tentative name) and a 6.1-inch LCD iPhone 9 (tentative name) in the second half of 2018.

<iPhone series expected to be released in 2018, Source: appleinsider.com>

In addition, there have been announcements for OLED smartphones of the notch design type such as Oppo R15, Vivo X21 and Huawei P20 Pro. Recently, it has been reported that the notch-type OLED are to be applied to Xiaomi Mi 7 and LG G7.

Huawei unveiled the flagship smartphone Huawei P20 and Huawei P20 Pro through a public event on March 27 in Paris, France. Both models also have a notch at the top of the displays, with a 5.8- inch LCD on the P20 and a 6.1-inch OLED on the P20 Pro, and support AOD (always on display) feature. Huawei also gives you the option to hide the notch. In the display settings for the devices, you can opt to flank the notch with black, so it practically disappears.

<Huawei P20 Pro, Source: bgr.com>

On the other hand, the Xiaomi Mi 7 is expected to adopt a notch design type OLED. According to China Focus, the evidence for a display notch was found since XDA developers noticed the notch related phrase in the Xiaomi operating system ‘MIJU 9’ setting wording while analyzing the leaked firmware file. The Xiaomi Mi 7 is said to support the AOD function along with the notch-type OLED.

The LG G7 is also expected to adopt a notch. Only, it’s incorporating a software trick to make the notch optional. According to the rendering image of xda-developers and the concept rendering video of Science and Knowledge, YouTube channel, LG G7 features a 6-inch OLED with a 19-to-9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1440 x 3120. The LG G7 launch date will be towards the end of April or beginning of May according to the latest release date rumors.

<Rendering image of LG G7, Source: xda-developers.com>

The notch design is a type of full screen display that is applied to maximize the screen size on a limited smartphone size. Attention is focused whether OLED smartphones of the notch design type are expected to become a new trend in the smartphone market in 2018.

Samsung Electronics, releases Galaxy S9 at MWC 2018

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Samsung Electronics will unveil Galaxy S9, its next-generation strategic smartphone, at MWC 2018, held in Barcelona, Spain on February 25. Galaxy S9 is anticipated to be equipped with various features such as dual cameras for the first time at the Galaxy S series and intelligent scanning, so expectations for the Galaxy S9 are rising.

The Galaxy S series continued to increase in ppi and display area (DA), starting with the ‘Galaxy S’ in 2010. The first Galaxy S was introduced with 4 inch WVGA rigid OLED, with 235 ppi and 58% DA. For Galaxy S6 which is the first Galaxy S series adopted with flexible OLED, its ppi became more than doubled and DA was 70.7% increased by 22%, compared to Galaxy S.

<Evolution in ppi and DA for Galaxy S series>

Launched in 2017, the Galaxy S8 first extended the DA to 83.6% by removing the home button and minimizing the bezel for the first time on the OLED smart phone. Through these changes, Samsung Electronics introduced a full-screen OLED display.

According to the industry experts, Samsung Electronics is expected to implement full-screen by expanding DA to 93% with 5.8-inch OLED in Galaxy S9 to be unveiled at MWC 2018.

As the full-screen OLED smart phone has become very popular with consumers, Apple, LG, VIVO and Oppo have started to incorporate full-screen OLED into their flagship models. As a result, smart phones with full-screen OLEDs are expected to become main stream this year.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that 230 million units of flexible OLED panels will be shipped in 2018 according to the recently published ‘2018 OLED Panel Industry Report’. The size of OLEDs is expected to increase steadily for implementation of full screen. Moreover, the development direction for full screen is to be from current full screen or notch type (form of making holes in speaker and camera functions) to the form of real full-screen displays, in which they (speaker and camera parts) are not visible on the front display.

<Expected development direction for full-screen>

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

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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>

 

OLED applied Galaxy Book 12.0 released in Japan

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<Galaxy Book 12.0, Source: news.samsung.com>

Samsung Electronics launched its Windows tablet ‘Galaxy Book 12.0’ in Japan. It has a 12-inch OLED display with an aspect ratio of 3: 2 and a resolution of 2,160 × 1,440. The size is 291.3 × 199.8 × 7.4 mm (WLH), the weight is 754 g, and the official price is 139,800 yen.

Galaxy Book 12.0 was released to the public at MWC 2017, the world’s largest mobile telecommunication exhibition held in Barcelona, Spain on February 26, and was pre-booked in Korea in April. At MWC 2017, a Samsung Electronics official said, “Galaxy book is expected to be able to target both tablet PC and notebook market at the same time, and burn-in phenomenon, which is a weak point of AMOLED panel, has been improved enough to be used for notebook applications.”

OLED, which was mainly applied only to mobile devices and TVs, has recently been applied to tablets and notebooks, widening its application range. In early 2017, Alienware launched the ’13 R3 2017 ‘with 13.3-inch OLED, and Lenovo also released the X1 Yoga 2017, which is powered by a 14-inch OLED in July 2017.

As OLEDs are applied to various applications and become the mainstream of display industry, it will be interesting to see if they can exert their influence in the tablet and notebook market as well.

LG V30 + launched in Japan and India

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According to ITmeadia of Japan, NTT docomo said that LG Electronics’ smartphone ‘V30 + L-01K’ and ‘JOJO L-02K’ started to be sold in advance as from 12:00 on December 20th at DoCoMo store and web site. The full-fledged release of V30 + L-01K will be at the end of January 2018, and that of JOJO L-02K is scheduled in March 2018.

<JOJO L-02K, Source: nttdocomo.co.jp>

V30 + L-01K is equipped with 6-inch QHD OLED, 16.5 and 13.1 megapixel dual cameras, and a wide-angle camera for panorama.

JOJO L-02K is a product celebrating the 30th anniversary of the JoJo’s odd adventure series- Japanese animation. The special edition of JOJO L-02K is limited to 10,000 and the price is 125,712 JPY. It is known that it is also equipped with AR camera mode to make an effect of being with a character.

V30 + has been also available in India since December 18th. Its price is RS. 44,900 (760,000KRW); aurora black and cloud silver will be released first, and other colors will be added later. It features one free display replacement and can be purchased only through amazon.in.

The number of OLED TV products in 2017 has doubled compared to last year

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OLED TV models launched in 2017 have been highly increased rather than both 2015 and 2016. 16 types of OLED TVs were launched in 2016, while 29 kinds of OLED TVs were launched which covers that the number of products has nearly doubled from last year. By company, LG Electronics released total 10 types of products which are the greater number of products launched than competitors, and followed by Loewe with 5 types of products.

<Comparison of No. of OLED TVs by each year>

Meanwhile, OLED TV market led by LG Electronics, was taken attentions of publics when Sony decided to launch OLED TV first in the early of 2017. Sony which launched OLED TV first in CES 2017 to catch public’s eyes with “Acoustic Surface” technology that can make sounds without speakers, is leading the premium market with LG Electronics by producing 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch OLED TVs.

The number of OLED TV products are expected to increase in 2018 more and more. According to Flat Panels HD, Philips which launched only one model with 55-inch OLED in the early of this year, decided for releasing the 6 kinds of OLED TV such as 65OLED973, 65OLED903, 65OLED873, 65OLED803, 55OLED903, 55OLED803 and so forth. It is analyzed that the strategy is to aim at diverse consumers which divides OLED TV leading the premium TV market into high-priced line with 9xx model and low-priced line with 8xx model.

The shipment in 2018 is also expected to grow. In accordance with UBI Research, it expects that OLED panel with 55-inch and more will shipped over 2.4 million units in 2018, 9.1 million units in 2022. There is much attentions how OLED TV leading premium TV market will harden its positions all the more in 2018.

<Shipment forecasting of OLED panel in 55-inch and more in 2018-2022>

AOI equipment market for OLED mobile devices is expected to reach US $ 23.3 billion by 2021

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AOI equipment used for small and medium-sized OLED inspection is non-contact inspection equipment that analyzes the presence of defects by irradiating the product with light and measuring the difference in the amount of the reflected light. The AOI equipment detects not only pattern defects by recognizing the difference through comparison of repeated patterns but also foreign objects on mask and substrate before and after LLO process.

As a result, AOI equipment is used in almost all OLED processes such as TFT pattern inspection, mask particle inspection, OLED pixel inspection, encapsulation inspection, and pre-and after LLO substrate inspection.

HB Technology, DIT, and LG PRI are major AOI equipment manufacturers. HB Technology, DIT and LG PRI produce almost all AOI equipment used for OLED process, whereas HIMS mainly produces AOI for mask foreign object inspection.

According to the ‘2017 Inspection and Measuring Equipment Report for OLED Mobile Device’ recently published by UBi Research, the market for inspection and measuring equipment in the entire OLED equipment market is estimated to be US $ 6.63 billion (about KRW 7.3 trillion) from 2017 to 2021. Among them, AOI equipment market is expected to be US $ 2.33 billion.

When it comes to processes, the AOI equipment market for TFT process is expected to create the biggest market of US $ 1.36 billion, and the AOI market for OLED pixel process, encapsulation and cell process will be US $ 430 million, US $ 390 million and US $ 160 million, respectively.

UBi’s Researcher, Yoon Dae Jeong said, “We can discover the added value of AOI equipment in that AOI equipment can improve yield by detecting and repairing defects during the OLED process and reduce the quality cost by preventing the further process of defective products.“ “With the technological development of AOI equipment, panel manufacturers are also actively introducing AOI equipment, and the AOI market is expected to grow even larger, as the inspection items are increasingly being strengthened.”

<2017 ~ 2021 OLED Mobile AOI Equipment Market Forecast>

Price competition intensifies in the premium TV market- OLED TV price close to premium LCD TV

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In the premium TV market, price competition is on the rise. The basic premium TV models (55 inch, 65inch, flat type) such as QN55Q7F and QN65Q7F (Samsung Elec.), OLED55C7, OLED65C7 (LG Elec.), XBR55A1E and XBR65A1E (Sony), launched in Amazon (www.amazon.com) in March 2017, are compared to one another).

<Comparison of 55 inch and 65 inch premium TV price>

As a result, the average price of 55 inch models of those three manufacturers dropped by 54.8% from March to October; especially Samsung Elec.’s QN55Q7F showed the highest drop from $ 2,798 in March to $ 1,598 in October. The 65 inch model showed a similar phenomenon. 65 inch dropped 60.0% on average from March to October while Samsung Elec.’s QN65Q7F showing the most dramatic decline from $ 3,998 in March to $ 2,498 in October.

Notably the price difference between 55 inch LG OLED TV and Samsung SUHD TV, both of which were released in 2016, was about $ 1,000 as of Dec 2016, and for 65 inch models, 1,500$ while those released 2017 showed a significantly narrowed price difference as of October 2017-55 inch 200$, 65 inch 300$.

The reason why OLED TV prices are catching up with the premium LCD TV prices is significantly due to stabilization of LG Display production yield. In particular, if the E4-2 line of LG Display, which has started operating since the second half of this year, is fully in operation from 2018, LG Display’s large OLED panel production is expected to increase by 41% to 2.4M units from about 1.7M units in 2017; the OLED TV will accelerate market expansion.

OLED TV with different characteristics and advantages by set makers

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LG Electronics announced on last 11th that LG OLED TV is speeding up the popularization with the monthly sales volume of 10,000 units and above for the first time in Korea. In addition, Sony, which joins the OLED TV camp in 2017, is enjoying great popularity and continues to expand its market share in the premium TV market. As such, OLED TV is leading the premium TV market by improving cost competitiveness through cost reduction as well as excellent image quality.

OLED TVs are currently being mass-produced by LG Electronics, Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic. Although all set makers that produce OLED TVs use OLED of LG Display, they are producing OLED TVs with different characteristics and advantages.

First, LG Electronics mentioned OLED’s vivid image quality and wall paper design as advantages of OLED W7 which is a signature TV. LG Electronics mentioned that OLED, which is a self-luminous element, can express near-infinite contrast ratio and rich color close to nature, and supports Dolby vision HDR and HDR10 to experience vivid image quality. Also, introduced that a 4.6mm of thin panel provided the experience of seeing the theater screen and all parts except the panel were housed in a space called innovation stage and completed the perfect wall paper design.

<OLED TV W7 of LG Electronics, Source: LG Electronics>

Sony emphasizes sound, image quality and simple design as the advantage of 4K BRAVIA OLED TV A1E series. It mentioned that the TV screen, which attracted great attention in last year’s CES 2017, can provide an enhanced immersive feeling by applying the ‘Acoustic Surface’ that the TV screen vibrates and makes sound by itself. In addition, the ‘X1 extreme processor’ HDR chip has been applied to improve the picture quality of OLED TV, and the cable is housed in the stand on the backside so that the simple design is realized.

<Acoustic Surface of Sony 4K BRAVIA OLED TV A1E, Source: Sony>

Toshiba then mentioned a high color gamut of 100% DCI-P3 and a high brightness of over 800 nits as the advantages of the REGZA X910. It said that it increased the color reproduction rate to express natural colors and improved the brightness to express the bright and dark parts in richer gradations and strengthened HDR restoration function to realize sharp and realistic high-definition video.

<REGZA X910 of Toshiba, Source: Toshiba>

Lastly, Panasonic stated that it implemented full black and rich color expressions. Especially, it emphasized that it applied ‘Hexa chroma drive plus’ which is Panasonic’s high-definition technology to express high contrast and colors hidden in dark areas that were difficult to implement in LCD TV and reproduced the emotion that the video producer intended.

<Comparison of ‘Hexa chroma drive plus’ technology application of Panasonic, Source: Panasonic>

As such, OLED TV set makers are introducing different OLED TVs that emphasize their characteristics and advantages. In addition to the above four makers, LOEWE of Germany and B & O of Denmark are expected to continue to launch OLED TVs, including mass production of OLED TVs or preparations for mass production. Based on the unique technology of set makers, it is worth noting that OLED TVs with what kind of characteristics and advantages will be produced.

LG Electronics, Big step on popularization of OLED TV

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<OLED TV of LG Electronics Source: LG Electronics>

LG Electronics OLED TV is speeding up its popularization with exceeding monthly sales of 10,000 units for the first time in Korea.

‘LG OLED TV’ was sold every four minutes last month. Compared to the beginning of this year, it’s double. LG Electronics expects sales increase of OLED TVs in the future and to rapidly increase market power.

The secret to increasing sales is recognition of outstanding image quality. LG OLED TV, this year, was first in the performance evaluation conducted by nonprofit consumer magazines in 11 advanced markets including the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal and Australia. Unlike LCD TVs, the contrast ratio is high because it emits light without backlight. So it presents perfect black and realizes a lively screen.

Consumers consider picture quality the most when purchasing TV. According to a consumer survey conducted by LG Electronics, over 40% of the respondents cited image quality as the top priority when purchasing TVs. This percentage is the highest of all purchasing considerations.

Reasonable price is also the cause of good sales. LG Electronics has continuously developed technology for more consumer to experience OLED TV image quality so as to reduce the. 55-inch OLED TV prices have fallen to the mid-2 million won. It is no different from premium LCD TVs. In 2013 when LG Electronics first launched OLED TV, it was worth 15 million won.

‘LG OLED TV’ accounted for about 30% of LG Electronics domestic TV sales this year and settled perfectly in the market.

Son, Dae-Gi, LG Electronics Korea HE Marketing FD, emphasized “we will expand sales to allow more customers to enjoy ‘LG OLED TV’ image quality and have a solid profit structure by raising premium market power”.

Fraunhofer FEP will show bidirectional AR / VR head mounted display devices based on OLED microdisplay.

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Fraunhofer FEP announced that they would show bidirectional AR / VR head mounted display devices based on OLED microdisplay at AWE Europe 2017 from October 19-20. According to Fraunhofer FEP, OLED microdisplay supports SVGA (800 x 600) resolution and can display augmented reality and virtual reality of 2D and 3D content via USB interface and HDMI connection. In addition, it is known that it is possible to use an eye tracking system that uses a photodiode to detect a user’s gaze.

<New HMD device of Fraunhofer FEP, Source: Fraunhofer FEP>

Judith Baumgarten, developer of Fraunhofer FEP, commented, “This exhibition will showcase the quality and versatility of OLED microdisplay,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity to demonstrate Fraunhofer FEP know-how in electronic design.”

In the meantime, AR/VR devices have been developed mainly in the fields of entertainment and games. Fraunhofer FEP, however, is expected to support designers, engineers, surgeons, etc. and enable them to be used as educational media in almost every field.

On the other hand, augmented reality and virtual reality technology are attracting great attention as one of the main technologies of the 4th industrial revolution that has recently attracted attention, and products such as Oculus Rift and Gear VR are continuously being released. According to UBi Research, the AR/VR market will expand full scale in 2019, when 5G is introduced, which can mass-produce UHD contents and transfer large volumes of content fast and the total revenues of virtual reality and augmented reality products will reach $ 58.7 billion by 2021.

AUO unveils round OLED and foldable OLED for the smart watch in Touch Taiwan 2017

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AUO showed the OLED that can be collapsible and three kinds of round OLEDs (1.2-inch, 1.3-inch, 1.4-inch) for the smart watch in Touch Taiwan 2017 held on 20th.

The round OLEDs in 1.2-inch and 1.4-inch of AUO are 326ppi, and it lowers an electric consumption at 30% versus former production goods. AUO also improves the visibility capacity in outdoor by embedding the brightness increase mode to make a display screen of two kinds of round OLEDs be clear even under bright sunlight.

The 1.3-inch OLED aimed at the smart watch for kids is light in weight, and strengthens the usability with a power saving mode and an intuitive touch interface function.

AUO displays two types of 5-inch flexible OLEDs that can be rolled or folded. Such two types of 5-inch flexible OLEDs apply the plastic board and AUO self-developed structure (special structural layer).

<AUO, 5 inch foldable OLED touch panel>

The 5-inch foldable OLED combines a flexible touch screen sensor that is developed by AUO itself.  The company said “it would provide excellent image quality, even if the curvature radius of the folded part is 4mm and less”.

For 5-inch rollable OLED, they explained “The thickness of the panel is just 0.1mm and only 5g. This model with the rolling radius of 4mm will provide wide color gamut”.

In last SID 2017, AUO has announced about that they applied the structure locating the TFT (Thin Film Transistor) and TFE (Thin Film Encapsulation) at the neutral axis to stand the compression stress or tensions during being folded.

UBI research publishes 2017 OLED lighting report : LG Display, ready to mass-produce OLED light panel, expecting OLED lighting market to grow fast

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LG Display starts mass production of 5G OLED panel for lighting from the end of September

■ OLED lighting panel market is projected to grow from US$ 1.9billion in 2021 to US$ 5.8billion by 2025

 

LG Display will start mass production of 5G OLED light panels from the end of September, therefore attention is focused on whether the OLED lighting market is growing rapidly. According to LG Display, monthly production capacity is 15K, and it is to be increased to 90K later.

 

According to the ‘2017 OLED Lighting Annual Report’ published by UBI Research on August 8, the global OLED lighting panel market is expected to grow to about US$ 1.9 billion by 2021. Furthermore, it is projected to have a CAGR of 85% for the period 2017-2025, and form a market of US$ 5.8 billion in 2025.

Because OLED lighting is thin, light and flexible, it does not limit the installation space and has excellent design autonomy. In addition, OLED lighting is used for automotive, exhibition, and medical as well as general indoor lighting because it can create a comfortable atmosphere with little heat and flicker.

 

However, the market for OLED lighting has been slower than that of OLED display, which is widely applied to mobile devices and TVs. Osram focuses primarily on automotive OLED lighting, and Philips sold its OLED lighting division to OLEDWorks. Also, Japanese panel makers such as Sumitomo Chemical and Konica Minolta have developed OLED lighting for industrial and medical applications. Nevertheless, it seems to take time for OLED lighting to become eventually a large market.

With LG Display’s mass production of Gen5 OLED line, the price of OLED light panel is estimated to drop below US $ 10 (100 x 100 mm). The significant price competiveness might enable OLED panels to be applied to various areas such as automobile and display lighting as well as indoor lighting. Owing to this expectation, attention is focused on whether the OLED lighting market, showing signs of slow growth, can be materialized.

UBI Research predicted that LG Display would account for about 70% of the world’s lighting OLED panel market in 2017, and will continue to lead the OLED lighting panel market with a 50% market share in 2020.

 

Meanwhile, ‘2017 OLED Lighting Annual Report’ describes trends of next-generation lighting market, promising applications, cost analysis upon the investment of LG Display and forecast of OLED lighting market. Since it analyses particularly OLED lighting market, materials market, and equipment market forecasts for OLED lighting from various perspectives, it is expected to help the related companies identify the OLED lighting market.

<Sales forecast for total OLED lighting panels>

LG DISPLAY, Will lead global TV market with OLED

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LG Display invited about 200 people of Chinese set makers, distributors and related experts and had ‘OLED Partner’s Day’ to share the status of premium TV market and OLED TV business development at Renaissance Capital Hotel in Beijing, China on September 12.

<Source : LG Display>

In the expert forum on the day, key executives from distribution and set makers such as LG Electronics, Sony, Philips, Skyworth, Suning and related organizations such as electronic committee and awards association participated and agreed that OLED will lead the TV market in the future. Forum participants, Liu Tangz(刘棠枝), CEO of Skyworth, said “The Chinese TV industry is currently in a state of saturation, but OLED TV, which can offer new value, will be a breakthrough in the display industry,” and commented “OLED TV will help increase brand awareness and market share.”

Yeo Sang-Deog, LG Display CMO, said, “OLED TV has already become the market trend” and emphasized “We will lead the market with OLED TV, a true future display that can deliver value beyond TV.”

Since LG Display began mass production of OLED TV panels in 2013, it has expanded its customer base to 13 major companies in Europe, Japan and China, starting with LG Electronics. World TV set makers such as LG Electronics, Skyworth, Concha, Philips and Panasonic have set OLED TV products on the front at the IFA (International Consumer Electronics Show) 2017 in Berlin in early September.

OLED TV’s market competitiveness is getting higher as major set makers in the world recognized the value of OLED TV, which has various advantages such as image quality, thickness, design, viewing angle and power consumption and aggressively launch products.

Yeo Sang-Deog CMO emphasized the confidence in quality, he added, “In addition to securing stable yields, we will increase the output to 1.7 ~ 1.8 million units in 2017 and 2.5 million units in 2018.” and explained that they finished all the preparations that OLED TV can influence in terms of production.

<Source : LG Display>

OLED TV has been rated as one of the best products by the world’s leading professional rating agencies such as ‘Consumer Report’, a nonprofit consumer organization in the US.

OLED TV can be used for interior decoration that displays pictures and photos even when not watching TV, and easy to apply on various AI platforms so that there is no limit to the range of applications. LG Display expects OLED TVs with infinite scalability to change the lifestyle of consumers.

“OLED is a true future display that can deliver new value to the TV market,” said Yeo Sang-Deog CMO and “LG Display plans to carry out a variety of promotional activities to enable more consumers to know and experience the value of OLED.”

LG Display plans to build an OLED landmark in Guangzhou Tower while operating an OLED experience center in the core city of China.

Meanwhile, Vincent Teoh, editor-in-chief and image quality expert at HDTV Test, explained that the TV picture quality test conducted recently proved the overwhelming superiority of OLED TV in all aspects such as contrast and color accuracy, famous Chinese photographer Tungmeong (童梦) shared the experience of use from the user perspective that OLED is the best display to realize the natural color.

On the he other side of the event hall, there prepared the experience zone that can compare structure and image quality of OLED, gallery that can be observed high-end products such as CSO and wallpapers TV and products released by customers allowing attendees to directly experience the benefits of OLED TV.

[iMiD 2017] TCL, Development focusing on Solution process OLED and QLED

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TCL’s Xiaolin Yan CTO addressed solution process OLED TV and self-emitting QLED TV as premium TV after white OLED TV at iMiD 2017 keynote address in BEXCO, Busan on 29th.

Yan CTO noted that white OLED TV, which is currently leading the premium TV market, meets all the requirements of premium TV due to its superior image quality, design differentiation, high resolution realization and nature-friendly characteristics compared to QD LCD TV.

In addition, the price that is higher than the current QD LCD TV is expected to be overcome by applying the solution process, and mass production is also expected in 2019.

Yan CTO predicted that the “solution process would be easy to produce 75-inch panels at Gen 10.5 because the process can be performed without splitting the ledger,” and “it is also possible to produce full-emission RGB OLED TVs.” However, he emphasized that the compatibility of materials and equipment and the development of ink forming process technology should be done.

Following to that, “QLED structure is very similar to OLED structure, so it is easy to apply the technology because of the low entry barriers,” he said. “The lifetime and efficiency of the blue light emitting layer compared to the current OLED is very low, and performance must be ensured without the use of cadmium.”

Lastly, He mentioned the establishment of printing technology in Guangdong JUHUA to promote the commercialization of solution process OLED TV and self-luminous QLED TV, and emphasized the cooperation of material, equipment and panel makers to develop next-generation premium TV.

LG Electronics leading OLED TV camp to premium sensation

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<LG OLED TV exhibited at IFA2016>

LG Electronics is expanding its OLED TV camp to dominate the premium market. LG Electronics decided to supply OLED TV since September to Danish prestigious audio company B & O (Bang & Olufsen), making a fruitful result of OLED TV expansion.

‘B & O’ held an OLED TV public event in Berlin on Aug 30th in local time. ‘LG OLED TV is equipped with its own sound technology and will be shown to visitors at ‘IFA 2017’ from September 1 to 6.

LG Electronics also emphasized that the OLED TV camp is on the constant rise. It is expected that there will be 13 manufacturers exhibiting OLED TV at ‘IFA 2017’. As the number of companies increased from 11 last year, it is said that these companies are planning to execute their premium marketing strategies by bringing OLED TV in front.

LG Electronics analyzed that mushrooming OLED TV sales among many companies are attributed to securing a stable profit structure. As Chinese and Taiwanese makers are investing heavily in LCD panel production, the price competition is likely to be intensified in the future and LCD technology has already reached the maturity phase, difficult to be differentiated with LCD. Taken the market environment into consideration, TV makers have been targeting a premium market with differentiated OLED TV.

LG Electronics announced that OLED TV makes the profit structure of LG Electronics stable and secure. The HE division in charge of TV business stated that it achieved 8.5% of operating profit (sales 8,561 billion KRW, operating profit 725.2 billion KRW) in the first half of this year. LG Electronics mentioned the premium OLED TV has brought the high profitability and noted that OLED TV sales accounted for 15% of sales in the first half of LG Electronics’ business operation.

The LG OLED TV currently being commercialized has swept the various awards by media and experts all over the world, and is ranking number one in the performance evaluation. The screen quality, sound quality and design have been complimented in the TV’s key elements.

Particularly, at ‘IFA 2017 in Berlin Germany, LG Electronics will aggressively approach and further strengthen the premium TV market from September 1 to 6, introducing the advanced screen quality technology of ‘LG OLED TV’. “We will enhance our leadership in the global market by bringing OLED TV presently reorganizing the premium market in front.”