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[28TH FINETECH JAPAN] JDI and JOLED, announced Strengthening Cooperation for Mid-sized OLED Market

At the 28th FINETECH JAPAN held in Tokyo, Japan from December 5 to 7, 2018, JDI and JOLED announced that they would intensify their cooperation in order to target the middle-sized OLED market.

JDI announced that it will actively promote JOLED’s solution process OLED to medium-sized OLED markets such as industrial display markets or automotive display markets through its own design know-how, production infrastructure, and sales channels,.

In particular, JDI announced that it will provide new value to next-generation automotive fields along with JOLED such as support for safety such as electronic mirrors and displays for A/B pillars, new interface functions, movie appreciation using 4-8K displays, and the displays that are harmonized with interior design such as curved surfaces and big screens.

JDI and JOLED also shared booths for exhibition. JOLED introduced 21.6-inch FHD OLED monitors for e-sports and medical applications. In addition, it introduced a number of medium-sized OLEDs such as 12.3-inch HD OLED for automobiles, 12.2-inch FHD flexible OLED, 27-inch 4K OLED for home interior, and 21.6-inch 4K flexible OLED with cylindrical form. It also showcased large OLEDs such as 54.6 inch 4K OLED.

On the other hand, JOLED announced in July, 2018 that it would open its Nomi office for mass production of solution process OLED. Based on 5.5 generation glass substrates, Nomi has production capacity of 20,000 glass substrates per month and plans to mass-produce in 2020.

What is the future of OLED?

Choong Hoon Yi, president of UBI Research made a keynote speech with a theme “The Future of OLED” at ‘The 3rd OLED Korea Conference’ hosted by UBI Research for two days from March 8 to 9.

Choong Hoon Yi, president of UBI Research stated “100-inch rollable wall TV is the future of OLED”. “human eyes have a wide viewing angle so even if display covers the whole wall, there is no discomfort. Glass substrate OLED may be difficult to carry, and accordingly rollable display can be rolled up and delivered like a carpet.” he added.

He also predicted “plastic substrates and printing process for price cut will be suitable for rollable display. TFT and pixel production techniques made by Solution process will be a key to future technology”. If a speaker is built in rollable display, and a correspondence between the person and sound on the screen will represent a perfect display.

Choong Hoon Yi said the reasons for the success of OLED can be found out in the mobile market.
Firstly, 4K contents to be used for future TVs will be used in smartphones, and smartphones will also use 4K resolution.

Second, Apple will release the OLED iPhone this year, and there will be an Apple effect because Samsung Display is building the A3 line for Apple to produce 200 million 5.5-inch OLED displays.

Third, Chinese market accounts for 40% of the global smartphone market, and Chinese set companies have been rapidly increasing the release of smartphones.

Lastly, a flexible OLED to cover the full screen smartphone will have no home button and feature wide screen to satisfy visual functions, and its strengthened security system that reads fingerprint and pattern can be applied.

For the four reasons above, he expected OLED will be key in the future mobile market.

Meanwhile, he expected the shipments of OLED panel will be 1.7 billion in 2021, and the sales will amount to US$ 75 billion. Korean display companies will represent more than 80% of the total market in 2021, and China will take up 10~15%. In addition, he forecast that display panel companies will make a new investment in flexible OLED which will account for 70% of the total OLED market.

Sony, Two OLED TV models will be released in 2017??

It is true that Sony, which had rumors, has entered the OLED TV market in 2017. Barry Young, CEO of the OLED association, told Forbes that Sony will launch two 55-inch and 65-inch OLED TVs in 2017.

The CEO, Barry Young will begin panel shipment from Q2 2017, and will begin full-fledged sales in Q3 or Q4. It plans that 55-inch 4K OLED TV will be about 80,000 units, and 65-inch OLED TV will be about 120,000 units.

Sony has previously released monitors based on LGD’s OLED panels, and it is reported that LGD will also supply OLED TV panels. Notable thing is the price of Sony OLED TV. According to Barry Young, Sony’s 55-inch OLED TV will cost about $ 1,999 and the 65-inch will cost about $ 2,999. This is respectively $300 cheaper than LG’s 55-inch UHD OLED TV price of $ 2,297 (OLED55B6, Amazon) and 65-inch UHD OLED TV price of $ 3,297 (OLED65B6, Amazon) released by LG Electronics in June 2016. In the premium OLED TV market, which is now dominated by LG Electronics, a price competition is expected.

It is unclear whether Sony’s OLED TV will be released at CES 2017, but it is expected to be confirmed at CES 2017 if production is certain. Due to Sony’s entry into the OLED TV market, LG Electronics is expected to aggressively price OLED TVs in 2017, it is focused on how Sony’s entry into the OLED TV market will contribute to the popularization of OLED TV and how it will affect the display industry.

<Sony’s PVM-X550 HDR 4K OLED monitor, source:digitalmediaworld.tv>