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[SID 2023 Keynote] Tianma leaps forward to become one of the top 3 global display makers with the ‘2+1+N’ strategy

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SID2023 Tianma Keynote

SID2023 Tianma Keynote

At SID 2023 held in Los Angeles, USA, Charles Peng, chairman of Tianma, delivered a keynote speech under the theme of ‘New Trends and Strategies for the Display Industry’. Chairman Charles Peng predicted that the proportion of LCD applied to smartphone displays will continue to decrease, while the proportion of AMOLED will increase and exceed 50% by 2024.

Chairman Peng said “By 2025, smartphone shipments with LTPO backplanes will reach 50%. Currently, Tianma is sequentially supplying AMOLED with LTPO backplane to flagship and foldable models and LTPS backplane to high-end and mid-range models.”

Chairman Peng continued, “In the current display market, the shipments of products with 150 ppi or more account for only 13%, but account for 60% of the total display market revenue, and products with 150 ppi or less account for 87% of shipments, but the market revenue is 40%. “It is important to capture the outstanding profitability of displays with high added value and high resolution.” Chairman Peng said, “In line with this trend, Tianma is pursuing a ‘2+1+N’ strategy that expands two core businesses such as smartphones and displays for automobiles, one core growth business for IT displays, and value-added businesses such as industries and applications. We will leap forward to become one of the world’s top three display companies.”

▶ 2023 Small OLED Display Annual Report Sample Download

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.

[Press Release] AMOLED sales to reach USD 32.2 billion in 2019, up 13.8% from 2018

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UBI Research (CEO, Yi, Choonghoon) published the annual OLED report in 2019.

According to the report, the OLED market is expected to reach $ 32.2 billion in 2019 and 13.8% market growth. The market growth is due to the launch of a variety of applications in 2019. Foldable OLED will accelerate the growth of the flexible OLED market as a convergence product that fuses smartphones and tablet PCs, and 8K OLEDs and rollable OLEDs to be launched from 2H 2019 will further solidly support the premium OLED TV market. In addition, an increase in flexible OLED shipments due to improved yields by Chinese panel makers will support growth in the Chinese OLED market.

AMOLED revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 was $ 7.9 billion, down 3.7% from $ 8.2 billion in the third quarter and down 10.4% from $ 8.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017. The quarterly OLED market was highly volatile due to sales fluctuations at Samsung Display.

Revenue in 2018 was $ 28.3 billion, up 7.1% from $ 26.4 billion in 2017. The growth slowed suddenly compared to growth of 58.7% in 2017. The sluggish growth is attributable to the sluggish OLED smartphone market, which drove the OLED market up until now. The OLED market for smartphones, which was worth $ 24.2 billion in 2017, was only $ 24.5 billion in 2018.

Flexible OLED panels are not being adopted in mid-end smartphones due to the high cost of manufacturing flexible OLED panels for smartphones. As a result, the oversupply will continue due to lack of demand compared to the 6G flexible OLED investment. In the fourth quarter of 2018, there was an oversupply of 31%. In the first quarter of 2019, oversupply will increase to 39% by overlapping seasonal demand decline.

 

Leading the OLED market of Samsung Display continues this year

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According to OLED Market Track, which was published by UBI Research in the first quarter of 2018, AMOLED sales and shipments amounted to US$ 8.86 billion and 130 million units, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2017. The sales amount is 100.2% higher than the fourth quarter of 2016. Among them, Samsung Display’s sales and shipments account for 91.6% and 94.5%, respectively, and keep its absolute position.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, the total number of AMOLED market for smart phones was 120 million units, representing 95.5% of the total market. AMOLED panels for smart phones sold by Samsung Display accounted for 97.5%, with 119 million units.

In 2018, the AMOLED market for smart phones is expected to reach 470 million units, with Samsung Display expecting its market share to maintain over 91.5 % with 430 million units.

<4Q’17 AMOLED market>

<2018 AMOLED market for smartphone>

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

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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.

OLEDON, Find the future of AMOLED in plane source FMM!

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Three years have passed since the first QHD (about 515 ppi) OLED applied to Galaxy Note4 in 2014, but OLED resolution is still in QHD. In order to manufacture high-resolution OLED over UHD, FMM of less than 15 μm is required, but it is not applied to mass production due to various technical issues.

Professor Hwang Chang-Hoon, CEO of OLEDON, a venture business of Dankook University, proposed that the plane source FMM deposition technology is the only solution for a high-resolution OLED manufacturing process over UHD at the 1H semester UBI Research Seminar “OLED Market Analysis and Latest Technology” held on June 30 (Fri) at Yeouido FKI Conference Center.

Professor Hwang Chang-Hoon said, “To improve the resolution of AMOLED, the angle of flight of organic molecules should be reduced to less than 10 degrees and the aspect ratio of TFT devices should be maintained at 1.0 level.” and explained “The evaporation angle (incidence angle) of the currently known linear source is about 40 degrees, and the shadow distance is about 3 um. Therefore, the ratio of the pattern width, the shadow distance, and the aspect ratio can be increased at the SUHD level AMOLED patterning process. Ultimately, the current patterning technology loses the flatness of the film. “.

In addition, Professor Hwang Chang-Hoon said, “Linear deposition technology has limitations in achieving resolution higher than QHD, and development of plane source FMM deposition technology is the only way to manufacture OLED with 2000 ppi or higher.”.

<Professor Hwang Chang-Hoon announced the 2250ppi AMOLED technical problem, Source: the 1H semester UBI Research Seminar>

The shadow distance measured by OLEDON’s plane source FMM deposition technique ranges from 0.68 to 1.05 μm and the angle of incidence is 13 to 19 degrees and converting this result to resolution makes it possible to fabricate a device with a maximum of 1500 ppi. On the other hand, with the newly developed Xplane source, the shadow distance was 0.38 ~ 0.56um and the incident angle was 7.2 ~ 8.0 degrees, it is possible to manufacture up to 3300 ppi device by converting it to the resolution. In the last SID2017, Prof. Jin Byung-Doo and Prof. Hwang Chang-Hoon introduced the world’s first measurement of sub-micron-scale shadow distance using plane source patterning technology, it has been announced that it is possible to manufacture a micro AMOLED device having a Super Ultra (SUHD) resolution of 11K (2250 ppi) or more if scale-up development is applied to large-area OLED display production industry in the future. (Paper title: Plane source evaporation techniques for Super ultra high resolution flexible AMOLED)

Sub-micron Shadow data and incident angle data obtained by plane source FMM deposition technology, Source: the 1H semester UBI Research Seminar

On the other hand, based on the development results, OLEDON announced that it plans to develop and install planar source FMM evaporator for research, which can manufacture ultra-high resolution micro OLED devices using plane source deposition technology, in Dankook University. (Refer to: OLEDON homepage www.oledon.co.kr)

Chinese panel makers BOE and Tianma started small and medium sized AMOLED production, acceleratedly chasing Samsung.

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It is the first time for China to produce Gen6 flexible AMOLED; it is expected that BOE’s mass production not significantly affected by yield due to the tremendous support from the Chinese government will cause such impact on the small and medium-sized AMOLED market where Samsung has monopolized so far.

B7 line, which was built in May 2015 with the investment of approx. 465 yuan, is expectedly used in high-end mobile display in China, with 48K- large monthly capacity based on Gen6. In Dec last year, 45K investment was confirmed in Mianyang’s Gen6 flexible AMOLED production line B11 and mass production is expected to operate in 2019.

<5.5 inch FHDfoldable AMOLED launched at CIDC 2016>

In addition, Tianma successfully lighted up the rigid AMOLED panel manufactured in Gen6 LTPS AMOLED production line in Wuhan for the first time in China on April 20th. Tianma has first built the Gen 4.5 AMOLED pilot line in China as well as Gen 5.5 AMOLED production line in Shanghai for mass producing small-medium AMOLED display.

Also CSOT aims to mass-produce in the fourth quarter of 2018 as the investment in Gen6 rigid and flexible AMOLED production lines at Wuhan’s T4 plant has been proceeding. Visionox plans to additionally expand Kunshan’s Gen5.5 line (V1, presently 4K) phase1 11K and Phase2 15K investment is being proceeded. ROYOLE also invested in the Gen 5.5 flexible AMOLED mass production line, and LOI of the SFA deposition equipment was announced last January. The expected capacity is 15K.

In the Korea-dominated AMOLED market, Chinese panel makers are taking up the market share rapidly through the Chinese government support and their huge domestic market. Lee Choong-hoon (chief analyst) at UBI Research specialized in AMOLED market predicts that by 2021, Chinese AMOLED panel makers will record their second largest shipment volume with approx. 16% of the entire market share via full-fledged shipment from 2018, followed by Korea by 2021 “.

<forecast of AMOLED panel shipment by country>

Samsung Electronics, Recorded operating profit of 1. 34 trillion won in display business

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Samsung Electronics announced that they recorded sales of 7.42 trillion won and operating profit of 1.34 trillion won in display business through 4Q 2016 having been progressed on the 24th. This company recorded large scale surplus that exceeded continuous 1 trillion won for two consecutive quarters following last 3Q.

According to Samsung Electronics, this company says that sales has been increased and cost-improving activities were continued through customer diversification in case of 4Q 2016, and also sales volume of OLED panel was increased to a small extent compared to previous quarters. Sales price strength has been continued in demand-supply stability in case of LDC business, and they reveal that business results have been improved indebting to sales increase of high value-added products such as UHD/large size etc. together with yield/cost betterment. In case of TV panel sales, the volume was decreased a little compared to previous quarters from its quantity and areas all together.

Samsung Electronics lights up a business schedule that they will propel growth compared to previous year by expanding exterior supplies of high-end products including Flexible etc. based on technology leadership and securing capacity of Samsung Electronics in 2017 OLED business. They estimate that needs on high value-added Flexible will be greatly expanded according to form-factor innovation of Smartphone.
Besides, they convey their words such like constant increases of China companies’ capacity in LCD business and deepened competition between companies have been made, but they will endeavor to sustain stable profitability through expansion of product sales and design differentiation including Frameless and Curved while strengthening competitiveness of high value-added products including UHD/large size etc.

Samsung Electronics executed 25.5 trillion won in facility investment, and 9.8 trillion won was invested to display business, and also 2017 investment volume of facilities was not fixed yet.

They disclose schedules of propelling sales increase by positively responding to needs of client products according to increasing OLED adaptation by main Smartphone clients in OLED business in the first quarter, and also carry forward performance enhancement through P-Mix efficiency. Though demand decrease of LCD business is estimated owing to entering off-season, tight supply-demand looks to be continued, and they delivers their words like they will devote securing profitability through expanding high value-added product sale and constant boosting of cost competitiveness.
Thus, Samsung Electronics lights up that they will secure profitability by expanding high value-added products such as UHD/ large size/Curved etc.

In 2016 Q4, Samsung Electronics recorded sales of 90 million cellular phones and 8 million tablets, and they forecast that sales of cellular phones will be increased in the first quarter compared to previous quarter, and sales of tablet will be decreased. They explain that sales of LCD TV recorded 16 million TV, and 40% was decreased by influences of seasonal reason in the first quarter, but one-digit growth of early stage is expected annually.

On the other hand, they say that Samsung Electronics does not consider additional disclosure of LCD production line at now while explaining that closure of L7-1 (LCD) line end of last year was not related to Sharp as a matter of willing to do OLED switch before supply stop of Sharp according to Samsung Electronics. In relation with OLED capability, they deliver policy of willing to secure it according to market and customer needs.

All about OLED in one place, UBI Research, ‘3rd OLED KOREA Conference’ will be held

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UBI Research plans to hold the 3rd OLED KOREA Conference with the theme of “Lessons from History and How OLED Can Evolve” at Novotel Ambassador Hotel on Mar. 8 (Wed) to 9 (Thu).

The OLED industry is expected to grow rapidly according to the adaption of full-driven OLED panels by Sony and Apple in 2017 and the competition among panels, equipment, and manufacturing companies can be intensified at the same time. It is necessary to understand and respond strategically to industry trends for successful business under such circumstances. The opportunities to share ideas and concerns each other and close exchanges between Industry-academic institute, panel, materials and equipment companies have been required. UBI Research has prepared a place to freely exchange various information and opinions through the 3rd OLED Korea Conference by reflecting such needs of the industry.

The Korea Conference will be an opportunity to analyze the past trends of OLED which the usage and application range is getting wider and to discuss the successful advancement and strategies to grow the OLED industry for the future. Therefore, it will be a valuable time to practically help the OLED industry.

The Presentation is planned by twenty-four (24) domestic/international experts related to OLED display such as set and panel makers, materials/equipment companies, university/research etc. including UBI Research, Samsung Display, Cynora and CEREBA about followings:

▲Exploring new opportunities with OLED and the preparation, ▲Possible directions and the reasoning for OLED, ▲Lessons from the history and how OLED can be evolved, ▲OLED and its collaboration, investigating the possibilities

We will establish the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the OLED industry based on the sharing of mutual opinions by preparing a networking space between the companies through luncheon during the conference period and breakfast with OLED reception.

Detail information can be found in www.oledkoreaconference.com

The image quality is enough, AMOLED for user’s eye health is general trend now.

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Modern people who are exposed to electronic devices such as smart phones, PCs, TVs, and monitors can cause fatigue and dry eye syndrome by blue light which might damage the retina or lens in severe case. It may especially disturb a restful sleep by affecting melatonin negatively which is the secretion of sleep-inducing hormone.

Samsung Display has introduced the strength points of self-emitting AMOLED on the blog that can block the harmful blue light by emitting nearby safe wavelength to keep the color and reduce the emission of 425-455mm area in harmful wavelength. They have acquisitioned the industry’s first “Safety for Eyes” certification regarding on the excellence of eye’s health in the photobiological stability test conducted by German certification institute, VDE (Verband Deutscher Elektrotrchniker e.v) in 2016.

They have also represented various advantages that offer excellent color reproduction ratio of 100% against LCD showing 74% level of DCI-P3 standard, thinner thickness than half and low power consumption compared to LCD. They promoted variety merits of eco-friendly AMOLED only for user’s eye health (e.g., ‘Vision Aid’ checks itself the degree of deficiency of cone cell for color blind people and adjusts intentionally the insufficient color stronger for them to look well) as well as the performance including image quality by using blog.

Meanwhile, Samsung Display showed a Bio blue panel applied pixel structure with deep blue sub-pixel and light blue sub-pixel in SID 2016 and IMID 2016. Deep blue and light blue are applied to prevent the degradation of color expressiveness of AMOLED panels that are replaced by light blue only and sharply reduced the gravity of blue light on AMOLED to 12.8%, half of the 25.1% of LCD.

<Bio Blue OLED Panel of Samsung Display, SID 2016>

OLED panel for automotive display to be applied from 2018/The core issue is for its life-time extension.

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OLED panels are expected to be used in automotive displays joining to mobile devices and TVs.

It clearly revealed that the flexible OLEDs are becoming the flagship product for automotive display in CES2017 through the Chrysler’s conference as pre-event. (website: https://www.olednet.com/en/ces2017-media-day-chrysler-potal/)

According to the “Automotive Display Report – Application & Market Trend Analysis and the Market Forecast” published by Ubi Research, OLED panels are expected to be applied to automotive cluster and CID in earnest from 2018. It will be applied to premium cars first under flexibility and superiority of image quality.

Car manufacturers are attempting to differentiate themselves with the concepts of environmentally friendly, connected, smart, and autonomous driving, and thus the interface inside the vehicle is also changing. There might be a limit to the existing analogue methods since various information must be transmitted and processed especially, as developed connected, smart car, and autonomous vehicle.

Therefore, the role of display in automobiles is becoming increasingly important and the area of display is gradually widening. Especially, since the cluster and CID have many curved surfaces, it is difficult to apply a square display to a large area and accordingly, the importance of a flexible display is emphasized.

The automobile manufacturers show great interest to the AMOLED panel since it can provide high visibility to the drivers and it is flexible and applicable to any part of the automobile based on its fast response speed, wide viewing angle, high color reproduction rate and contrast range. It is under joint development with major panel makers.

However, there is a problem that the lifetime of the AMOLED panel is still insufficient for application to automobiles. According to the analyzing report, the lifetime of the AMOLED panel has met about 50% as compared to the requirements for the car display. The most important issue is securing lifetime for the AMOLED panel usage.

According to the report also, the automotive display market will grow at an annual average of about 17%, reaching US $ 25,000 million by 2022, and it forecasted that the AMOLED panel market will account for about 20%.

<Automotive display market share forecasting in 2017-2022>

[CES2017] Media Day: Meeting of the Prestigious Automaker and the Great Display Manufacturer

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Chrysler held an event to introduce its next-generation concept car “POTAL” at the Pre-CES 2017 show, Pre-CES2017Media Event.

Chrysler classified the space where humans will live in the future into three; family, job and vehicle, and named vehicles a “Third Space”. Future drivers can do a variety of activities inside vehicles thanks to autonomous driving.

The interior design of “POTAL” is very simply organized. The steering wheel is designed to have storage space in dashboard. The high-mount instrument panel display is positioned on the top of the dashboard to have high visibility. ‘Connected’ interface is applied between display and the surrounding environment including driving information. There is another display underneath the dashboard.

The displays on the interior front of “POTAL” prepared to open the new era of future vehicles consist of AMOLED. A ‘high-mount’ AMOLED display is flexible OLED, and a display underneath is a 12-inch glass AMOLED. Both displays are supplied by Samsung Display.

At many car shows, the concept cars with curved displays have been introduced so far, but this show might be the first time to exhibit flexible OLED directly.

Flexible OLED used for ‘POTAL’ is so reflective to minimize the loss of information against light coming in from the outside, and its background is black to have optimum visibility.

The prestigious automaker and the great OLED manufacturer meet and create a new technology.

Flexible OLED provided by the world’s best mobile display company, Samsung Display is not expected to be used in the f motor industry or a while. Apple will apply flexible OLED to iPhone in earnest, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. will also use flexible OLED entirely for the next-gen Galaxy S8. Accordingly, the on-going flexible OLED line also lacks a capacity to respond to the smartphone market. Samsung Display’s flexible OLED is expected to continue a shortage of supply until 2019 so that the world’s best luxurious instrument panel will be supplied by 2020.

Samsung Electronics launched Galaxy Gear S3 with improved luminance over 400nit comparing to the previous model

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“Gear S3”, Samsung Electronics’ smart watch officially launched in Korea last 11 November, will be globally launched in USA, UK, Australia, France, Germany, France, Singapore, UAE, and others coming 18 November. It is anticipated that the markets will react enthusiastically as 54%(510 people) responded that they would like to buy Gear S3 based on a survey conducted on 994 people in USA.

The latest Samsung Gear S3 has implemented the Always-on-Display(AOD) function, always displaying the main contents on the screen using the 1.3-inch AMOLED Display. Battery life lasts at maximum for 3 to 4 days between charges since battery capacity has increased from 250mAh to 380mAh, improved by 27%. Moreover, it is made possible to be used for about 10 hours by setting watch-only mode when the battery remains 5%. The latest Gear S3 added useful functions such altimeter, barometer and speedometer for diverse leisure and sports activities embedding GPS coming with the IP68 level of waterproof/dustproof, and increased its benefits by installing SamsungPay. Particularly, it fixed outdoor visibility by enhancing its brightness by over 400nit comparing to the previous model and enables checking various information on the clear screen in bright sunlight, which used to be a problem for the previous models.

Samsung announced to hold a large-scale hands-on experience event in 15 spots in Korea, Famille Station, Gwanghwamun D tower, the nationwide main branches of CGV, including in Yeongdeungpo Times Square in Seoul to celebrate launching ‘Galaxy S7 Edge’ and ‘Gear S3.’ See at Samsung Galaxy S7 Campaign site(http://www.samsung.com/sec/galaxys7/experience) for further more details.

Meanwhile, it is expected, according to Ubiresearch, that the AMOLED panel market for smartwatch will have been grown by 14% per annum and comprised over 100 million ones market by 2020.

 

BY HYUNJUN JANG, HANA OH

Who Will Get The First Full-Screen Display Smartphone Title, Samsung Or Apple?

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Full-screen display smartphone is expected to be launched soon. According to the recent report ‘Key Issue and The Market Analysis for Foldable OLED – Flexible OLED Annual Report’ by UBI RESEARCH, a market survey company, left-right bezel-less flexible OLED dominate the smartphone market, and later full-screen display with minimized or without both left-right and up-down bezel will appear in 2017, thereby leading the future market.

<Smartphone Display Development Trend Outlook>(Source: UBI RESEARCH)

The more specific circumstances were caught. Apple Insider announced that Apple recently applied for a design patent(US20150303244A1) of electronic devices with display-integrated light sensors, quoting the USPTO’s announcement on October 11(Local Time).

<Design Drawing 1 of Apple’s Patent-Pending Electronic Devices with Display-Integrated Light Sensors>

Apple used the examples of the placement of Ambient Light Sensor or Proximity Sensor around the side of display, and of the protection of display and sensor circuit by glass or plastic transparent encapsulation layer. Apple Insider expects that this design will be able to reduce unnecessary space and make full-screen display possible.

<Design Drawing 2 of Apple’s Patent-Pending Electronic Devices with Display-Integrated Light Sensors>

At the 2016 IMID Business Forum at COEX in Samseong-dong on October 26, Samsung Display chief expert, Park Won-sang announced display trend about screen size, which boosted confidence. Chief expert, Park Won-sang said that “Display size compared to set size is very important due to the characteristic of mobile phones with a size limit. The display area(hereinafter “D.A”) of edge display was 80%, full-screen mobile phone D.A was larger than 90%, and this is one of the major trends that will lead the market”. The techniques including an all-in-one glass fingerprint recognition module and an ultrasonic fingerprint recognition module have not been mentioned yet, but an entirely innovative full-screen smartphone will be introduced by removing left-right bezel as well going beyond the left-right bezel-less type of Note 7.

<Samsung Display’s Presentation, 2016 IMID Business Forum>

LG also applied a patent of full-screen display. According to Patently Mobile’s report on June 2015, not physical but virtual button and App icon were applied. But, design itself cannot exactly show materials and interior parts except appearance, and it is now uncertain whether it will be developed or not as there is no further news after the patent application.

<LG Electronics Granted Home-Buttonless Smartphone using Flexible Display>>(Source : Patently Apple)

Likewise, many smartphone companies are actively reviewing the introduction of full-screen display because it might allow customers to experience the biggest change in addition to the product’s immersive nature. Besides, there are recently some opinions that with the expanding VR market, OLED display without a latency issue and wider display area are necessary to be applied to HMD(Head Mounted Display) attached with a mobile phone.
Meanwhile, ‘Key issue and Market Analysis for Foldable OLED’ Report by UBI RESEARCH forecasted that full screen AMOLED panel will be firstly launched in 2017, accounting for 60% of the total flexible AMOLED panel market and going beyond the bezel-less type of flexible AMOLED panel market.

Meanwhile, ‘Key issue and Market Analysis for Foldable OLED’ Report by UBI RESEARCH forecasted that full screen AMOLED panel will be firstly launched in 2017, accounting for 60% of the total flexible AMOLED panel market and going beyond the bezel-less type of flexible AMOLED panel market.

<Definition by Flexible OLED Type and Market Share Outlook >(Source: UBI RESEARCH)

Sunic System’s Successful Demonstration of 1.1um Shadow Distance, High resolution up to 1500 ppi

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Sunic System announced at 2016 IMID Business Forum that it succeeded in implementing 1.1um shadow distance by using plane source evaporation and 100um shadow mask. 1.1um shadow distance is able to manufacture 1000ppi~1500ppi high resolution.

Plane source evaporation is a technology to evaporate OLED light-emitting material on metal plate, invert it, apply heat to the metal plate, and vertically evaporate OLED light-emitting material. When the shadow angle(Ф) of OLED light-emitting material evaporation is 90 degrees, the value of SD(Shadow distance, step height / tanФ) is zero (0) theoretically. So, it is possible to design thick and high resolution FMM, which means high-resolution AMOLED panel can be manufactured. This principle was announced for the first time at IMID 2016 Business Forum, attracting big attention.

Sunic System Dr. Hwang Chang-hoon said “If we lower step height up to 3um by reducing the thickness of shadow mask based on this result, 0.37um shadow distance would be possible, which means we can manufacture maximum 2250ppi(11K) high resolution AMOLED panel. Accordingly, we will put spurs to development of 0.37 shadow distance”.

Also, he announced that co-evaporation of host and dopant that had been thought to be impossible in plane source has been resolved using flashing evaporation. He also proved that if donor film goes through flashing evaporation after co-evaporation of host and dopant, host and dopant can co-evaporate, and color control becomes easier by controlling dopant ratio to manufacture donor film.

<Result of Color Control after applying Flashing Evaporation>

<Result of 1.1um Shadow Distance>

[KVRF2016] Even KVRF 2016, OLED leads VR industry

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Korea VR festival 2016 (below “KVRF2016”) which can confirm present and future of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industry was opened from October 6 to October 9 at Nuridream Square of Sangam DMC.
In this event, 79 companies including global enterprises such as Samsung Electronics, Sangwha Planning, Oculus, Sony Co., etc. participated in, and new technology of each company was able to be checked on because approximately 157 booths were prepared in common production center, outdoor center, and business center.

<VR Simulator using a huge robot arm of Sangwha Planning>

While interests in VR and AR are enlarged due to recent Poke’mon GO, many spectators visited this place with keen attention, each company shows off various interactive-typed contents such as roller coaster, paragliding, Sokkuram experiencing etc as well as game contents including FPS, sky jump etc accordingly. .Besides, this event did not simply limited to games such like Eye-tracking linked with cognitive concentration training system was displayed by BIOTECH, and VR goggles for military simulation by P&C Solution, and also demonstrated a fact that VR industry could be multiply applied to whole fields such as education, health, army etc.

<VR 4D Simulator for Roller Coaster experiencing by MGAME Corp.>

One of interesting thing during observation was that AMOLED panel was used to majority expensive HMD (Head Mounted Display) devices. From Sony Playstation VR whose release is scheduled on 13th to Samsung Gear VR and Nibiru, a Chinese enterprise among Chinese companies, applied Samsung AMOLED. According to common opinions of company officials, they clarified AMOLED application due to issues relevant to response speed called Latency, even though there were BLU (Back Light Unit) and contrast problems which belonged to fundamental matters of LCD.. Latency indicates delaying time owing to inter-computer connections in on-line games frequently, but the reason is derived from limitations of implementing occurred delaying speed with LCD whenever moving user’s eyes, even though visual reality should quickly invoke new images too according to movement of user’s head in VR. No matter how the product has excellent computing power, AMOLED application is essential to make the delaying time shown in the screen to ‘0.’

<VR product series of Playstation whose release are planned soon>

Interests in VR have been heightened such like a lot of enterprises and business start-ups in the exhibition hall were boasting their VR technology and VR café was opened in Gangnam, Korea first etc., but there was a realistic saying that even profit model could not be set up properly because related regulations on VR were vague yet and standardization in domestic was not clear as well. Business models and VR industry participation by enterprises become to be different according to legal regulations, so government should provide suitable assistance and methods to make systematic profit platform so that VR industry could strengthen global competitiveness.

Flexible AMOLED panel market growing to approx one billion USD in 2020

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According to the UBI industrial research report on ‘’key issues and market analysis of fordable implementation’’ issued on DATE, in 2020 flexible AMOLED panel (including smart watch panel) will grow to approx one billion USD.

The report says that Samsung Electronics has successfully advanced in the flexible AMOLED smartphone market with distinctive Edge band design, and so have other competitors. Edge-type flexible AMOLED smartphone market size is expected to increase remarkably in 2017. Particularly Samsung electronics’ soon-to-be-released high-end model is equipped with flexible AMOLED panel, and Apple’s iPhone in flexible AMOLED panel application will be launched in 2017. The flexible AMOLED panel market is showing 70% annual market growth, and forecasts approx US$ 40,000 million in 2020.

In 2017 a foldable smartphone and dual edge transformed model in the flexible AMOLED panel application will be introduced in the market.

A UB industrial researcher says “In 2017 along with a new-fixed type flexible smartphone, a foldable smartphone is likely to be released to observe the market response.”

On the other hand, to implement the foldable application the report deals with key issues and current situation of each compartment (substrate ~ cover window), and main development trend to forecast a direction of truly flexible AMOLED panel development.

[OLED summit 2016]AMOLED panel Application, will it succeed in extension to PC?

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On the first day of OLED Summit 2016, presentations on Intel and OTI Lumionics for PC AMOLED panel were held. Both of these two companies presented on topics of current situation analysis for PC AMOLED panel and upcoming opportunities, and noted that there is a long way to go for AMOLED panel for PC.

On January 2016, Lenovo presented the introduction of world’s first OLED laptop ‘X1 Yoga’ with 14-inch 2550×1440 resolution AMOLED panel, and HP also presented the introduction of 13,3-inch 2560×1600 resolution OLED laptop ‘Specter X360 hybrid laptop/tablet’. Also in CES2016 held early this year, Samsung introduced ‘Galaxy Tab Pro S’ where they seem to prove the possibility of AMOLED panel for PC.

However, both Intel and OTI Lumionics explained AMOLED panel lacks in power consumption, brightness, lifespan, and price compared to LCD. OTI Lumionics showed the results of three products, Galaxy Tab Pro S, X1 yoga, and Mac book, emphasizing the need for improvements in AMOLED panel for PC.

Especially, OTI Lumionics CEO Michael G. Helander said, “as a result of burn-in test of AMOLED product for PC, it decreased to under LT97 in 80 hours, and it is an especially important factor for office PC which runs daily average of 7 hours. Considering that products with AMOLED panel are at premium level, it must be improved 10 times better compared to now”, emphasizing the reduction of burn-in phenomenon after the lifespan of PC AMOLED panel being improved.

Intel John F. Jacobs said “although OLED has big issues in lifespan and power consumption in white environment, the recent trend of PC tend to utilize contents with various color compared to existing office or internet-based white environment where the white background tend to decrease. It can be a new opportunity for OLED”, emphasizing the opportunity of OLED.
In order for white realization, AMOLED panel must drive all sub pixel of RGB. So in regular PC environment where white background is normally used such as office program or internet browser, AMOLED panel is mainly applied in special monitors such as medical and broadcasting due to issues of increasing power consumption and comparatively decreasing lifespan.

However, as Intel presented, considering that the PC environment is gradually changing and the lifespan of OLED is continuously improving, it is expected that AMOLED panel will have a bright future with PC as well.

While emphasizing high contrast range, fast response speed, wide viewing angle which are the strength of OLED, it is analyzed that the development of OLED luminescent material must be the main point in extending the OLED industry.

<Intel’s John F. Jacobs>

<OTI Lumionics’s Michael G. Helander>

Full-Scale War Between Samsung Gear S3 And Apple Watch Series 2

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The Apple Watch Series 2 has been officially unveil with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 so it is expected that the battle between Samsung Gear S3 and the Apple Watch Series 2 can not be avoided even if the official release day of Samsung Gear S3 is undecided.

Apple Watch Series 2 has an improved water resistance rating of 50 meters and includes GPS unit for utilizing location information and tracking movements. Especially, the watch works with Pocketmon Go from Niantic INC which has been very sensational game all over the world. It was announced that the product has four models including Stainless steel, Hermès which Apple produced teaming up with Hermès, and Nike+ which Apple produced teaming up with Nike.

Samsung Gear S3 also includes GPS so it can make various useful functions altitude available for leisure activities and exercising with the sensors for altitude, atmospheric pressure and speed. Samsung Pay function also increases a variety of useful functions. In addition, with saving battery power ability improved, ADO (Always On Display) which is packed so that major alarms are always shown can make the watch is faithful to the original watch function. And the rotating bezel of Samsung Gear S3 attracts public gaze with its sophisticated design presenting the sensitivity traditional watch gave and its intuitive UI built up much better than before.

Both of the smart watches are packing an OLED display which can boast 1,000 Nits peak brightness so it is expected that a great deal of information can be shown on the clear display in bright sunlight. In particular, Apple enhanced the brightness of the display more than doubled than that of the prior product of 450 Nits and Samsung also enhanced the brightness 400 Nits more than that of the prior product.

It has been known that the AMOLED panel for Samsung smart watch is provided by SAMSUNG DISPLAY while Flexible AMOLED panel for Apple Watch Series 2 is supplied by SAMSUNG DISPLAY and LG DISPLAY.

According to UBI research, the market of Smart Watch AMOLED panel is expected to be worth close to one hundred million in 2020 with average annual growth rate of 14%.

Mass production of AMOLED panel for AUO and VR begins in earnest

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It is expected that AUO will begin mass-producing AMOLED panel for VR.

AUO displayed AMOLED panels for 1.2-1.6 inch smart watch, 12.3 inch vehicles, and 3.8 inch VR in Touch Taiwan 2016.

In particular, the AMOLED panel for VR is composed of 2 sets of 3.8 inch, and each AMOLED panel’s resolution is 423 ppi of 1080×1200. Using 2 AMOLED panels, 2K (2160×1200) resolution has been realized.

According to a staff from AUO, “there are plans to intensively mass-produce AMOLED panels for wearables and VRs; and in particular AMOLED panel for VR are being produced and supplied to Razer and OSV. From Q4 2016, mass-production will be initiated in earnest to ship over 100,000 units.”

AUO’s AMOLED panels for VR are being sold as modules to a company called Vitrolight technology. According to Vitrolight technology’s website AUO’s AMOLED panel module for VR is US$240-350 for 1 piece and 2,000 pieces can be supplied per month.

<AMOLED panel of AUO for VR, Vitrolight technology>

Sunic System Suggests High Resolution 11K AMOLED Panel Solution through Plane Source

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Sunic System’s solution for 11K (2,250 ppi) AMOLED production revealed in IMID 2016 held in Jeju ICC, South Korea is receiving much attention.

In the 2nd OLED Korea Conference held earlier this year, Samsung Display’s principal engineer Insun Hwang told the attendees that high resolution is the key in VR, and approximately 2,000 ppi is required for suitable realism. He explained that the resolution of VR falls as the distance between the user and display is short and this is an issue that needs to be solved.

The highest resolution of the current AMOLED panel for mobile device is 806 ppi, revealed by Samsung Display in SID 2016. The technology being applied to AMOLED panel mass production is evaporating OLED emitting materials through heat from linear source, and depositing the OLED emitting materials onto substrate through fine metal mask (FMM).

However, during the deposition stage of the OLED emitting materials, due to the distance between the evaporation source and FMM, thickness of FMM, and distance between FMM and substrate, incidence angle (θ) is produced. Due to the incidence angle, shadow distance (SD) is generated. Because of the SD issues, mask thickness and step height that minimize SD have to be decided, and these are the main reasons for the FMM production difficulty.

Plane Source Process, Sunic System IMID 2016

Plane Source Process, Sunic System IMID 2016

To solve these issues, Sunic System suggested plane source, instead of linear source, and reported that this will become a key technology for high resolution AMOLED panel. Plane source technology deposits OLED emitting materials on metal plate and vertically evaporates the materials through heat after reversing that metal plate. If OLED emitting material shadow angle (Ф) becomes 90, the SD (shadow distance, step height / tanФ) theoretically becomes 0. This means FMM can be designed to be thin and high resolution, allowing for high resolution AMOLED panel production.

Sunic System’s Dr. Chang Hun Hwang explained that plane source can reduce SD figure up to approximately 8 times compared to existing technology, and 11K (2250 ppi) AMOLED panel for VR use becomes possible. Through this 8K (200 ppi) RGB OLED TV panel production becomes possible in large area SMS evaporation technology.

Particularly, if plane source using SMS evaporation technology can be applied to large area, it is also expected to have significant impact on large area OLED panel production technology.

So far, inkjet printing technology applied solution process method has been mainly developed for RGB large area OLED panel production, but soluble OLED emitting materials’ performance fall short of existing evaporation OLED emitting materials. However, if plane source technology is successfully developed and applied, evaporation OLED emitting materials can be used. Accordingly, this could become large size OLED panel production technology that replaces solution process OLED.

Sunic System supplied Gen6 evaporator to LG Display, a first for a Korean manufacturing equipment company, and active mass production is expected to be possible from 2018.

Phone when Folded, Tablet when Opened… President of UBI Research ‘Flexible OLED Opens New Digital Convergence’

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The president of UBI Research Choong Hoon Yi

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Phone when Folded, Tablet when Opened… President of UBI Research ‘Flexible OLED Opens New Digital Convergence’

Combining smartphone and tablet PC, flexible OLED is expected to be a key player in opening the new digital convergence era.

During the Industrial Forum IMID 2016, held on 23 August in Jeju ICC in South Korea, the president of UBI Research Choong Hoon Yi gave a keynote speech and suggested the changes to the industry that flexible OLED will bring.

Yi discussed diverse applications for flexible OLED and emphasized that digital convergence where tablet PC is absorbed into smartphone will occur. He explained that flexible OLED will open the foldable phone era where the screen can be completely folded, and innovative product which will become a 5 inch smartphone when folded and a tablet PC when opened will be developed.

Yi explained that using the flexible OLED’s characteristics of thinness, lightness, flexibility, and spatial efficiency, it will be widely used. He estimated that not only will flexible OLED be used in automotive screen, lighting, flexible signage, and foldable game device, it will be utilized in diverse areas from wearable products such as smart helmet to smart fashion.

Referencing UBI Research’s analysis, Yi forecast that in 2020, 60% of the total smartphone will be OLED smartphone, and in 2021, 70% of OLED smartphone will be equipped with flexible OLED.

Samsung Display Mentions OLED’s BT2020 for First Time, OLED Emitting Materials Companies’ Concern to Increase

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Source: Samsung Display Keynote, IMID 2016

Color Coordinates Development Direction for Each Color to Satisfy BT2020, Source: AMOLED Characteristics Analysis Report of Galaxy S Series

Samsung Display’s Dr. Sung-Chul Kim gave a keynote speech during IMID 2016 being held in Jeju ICC in South Korea. He emphasized that AMOLED is the suitable display for the current trend and discussed the issues to be solved for AMOLED.

 

Kim gave several talks this year on similar topics but this is the first time he mentioned BT2020 as AMOLED’s color space. Accordingly, concerns of OLED emitting materials companies are expected to increase.

 

Until now, Kim has been discussing phosphorescent blue materials as the key issue; only OLED phosphorescent materials are red and green, and development and application of phosphorescent blue materials are urgently needed, which will lead to 300% increase in efficiency. However, during this keynote speech, he emphasized BT2020 for the first time with the phosphorescent blue application.

 

BT2020 is color space with red, green, and blue wavelengths of 630nm, 532nm, and 467nm respectively. In CES 2016, it was selected by UHD Alliance as the color space applied to UHD TV.

 

According to AMOLED Characteristics Analysis Report of Galaxy S Series, published by UB Research in May 2016, Galaxy series’ color space needs to meet BT2020. In order to meet this, for u’, red needs to increase, green decrease, and blue to decrease. For v’, red needs to decrease, green to increase, and blue to increase in terms of color coordinate movement.

 

Resolution and color coordinates of mobile device panel tends to follow TV development direction. As UHD Alliance selected BT2020 as the standard, AMOLED panel for mobile that meets this requirement needs to be produced. Accordingly, OLED emitting materials companies’ development focus, which is currently on lifetime and efficiency, is expected to be required to change.

Intel, LG Display, Dolby Laboratories, Audi and more slated to preset at the OLEDs World Summit 2016

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Intel, LG Display, Dolby Laboratories, Audi and more slated to preset at the OLEDs World Summit 2016

 

 

Join top OLED display, lighting and material developers at the 18th annual OLEDs World Summit, taking place September 20-22 at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego, CA. For nearly two-decades, the OLEDs World Summit has served as a homecoming for the display and lighting industries and provided a platform for them to highlight successes, address challenges and network. This year you can expect a complete overview of the industry.

The OLEDs World Summit 2016 will kick off by examining flexible display applications including wearable devices, smart phone applications and more. Over the course of the event, attendees will also explore chemicals and tools for OLEDs, new applications, challenges for OLED materials in displays and much more.  As an attendee you can expect to hear discussions such as:

  • OLEDs Flexible Display Screens for Smart Phone Applications
  • AMOLEDs for Personal Computer/Notebook PC Opportunities
  • OLEDs in Aviation
  • InkJet Printing: Tackling the “Achilles’ heel” of OLED Displays
  • And Much More

>>>View the 2016 Agenda

In addition to the presentations and dynamic discussions, there are four keynote presentations by some of the biggest names in the industry. You’ll hear from:

  • Joo Soo Lim, Director of OLED Technology Strategy, LG Display
  • Timo Kunkel, PhD, Staff Researcher, Color Science & Video Processing, Advanced Technology Group, Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
  • Juergen Kreis, Director of Business Development, Aixtron SE
  • John Hamer, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, OLEDWorks, LLC

 

 

Register today!

Your colleagues from Eastman Kodak, Acuity Brands Lighting, Universal Display, LG Display and more have already reserved their delegate tickets. Book your ticket today for the low price of $1199. Hurry, the price goes up after July 13th!

 

 

Questions?

Contact the Graphene World Summit Team:

Agenda Questions-DeAna Morgan at dmorgan@smithers.com

Media Questions-Katie Oster at koster@smithers.com

Sponsorship Questions-Emily Murray at emurray@smithers.com

AMOLED Manufacturing Equipment Market for Apple, USD 13,000mn for 5 Years…Half of Total 6G Flexible Equipment

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Source = UBI Research

Source = UBI Research [2016 OLED Manufacturing Equipment Annual Report]

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

AMOLED manufacturing equipment market for Apple’s use for 5 years, 2016-2020, is expected to reach USD 13,000 million.

According to 2016 OLED Manufacturing Equipment Annual Report, published on 7 July by UBI Research, the global Gen6 flexible AMOLED manufacturing equipment market is expected to record USD 28,411 million in 2016-2020. 47% of this is for Apple’s use with USD 13,000 million. The figure is if Apple applies flexible panel to some new models of iPhone to be released in 2017, and all new models to be released in 2018.

Apple occupies approximately 15% of the total smartphone sales with over 200 million units per year. As such, it is expected to have great impact on future exible panel market expansion.

In 2021, global flexible AMOLED panel shipment is estimated to exceed 1,000 million units. UBI Research forecasts Apple iPhone’s flexible panel will occupy 20% of the total flexible AMOLED shipment in 2017, and exceed 50% in 2021. UBI Research explains that in order to meet Apple’s flexible AMOLED panel demand, the required panel production capa. is analyzed to be 30K per month in 2017, and total 300K per month in 2021.

Furthermore, panel companies’ mass production line is expanding accordingly, and Samsung Display in particular is expected to invest 30K per year directed to Apple.

UBI Research’s latest report forecasts that the total OLED manufacturing equipment market to record approximately USD 43,927 million in 2016-2020.

Galaxy S Series Luminance Increase Trend Shows Blue Materials Luminance Needs to be Improved by 3.7 Times

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Galaxy S Series`s Blue Materials Luminance Needs to be Improved by 3.7 Times (Source = UBI Research)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

If the Galaxy S Series luminance increase trend continues, it is estimated that the luminance will reach 754 nits within 2-3 years. In order to produce Galaxy S with 754 nits, the luminance of blue emitting materials, that will be used for the product’s AMOLED, is analyzed to require improvement by approx. 3.7 times.

According to AMOLED Characteristics Analysis Report of Galaxy S Series, published by UBI Research, the analysis of luminance increase trend of Galaxy products from S4 released in 2013 shows Galaxy S series with full white luminance of 430 nits and peak white of 754 nits is expected to be produced within 2-3 years. The Galaxy S4 luminance is 338 nits (peak white), and the luminance increased to S7’s 505 nits via S5 and S6’s 400 nits mark. Calculating based on this trend, the future product is analyzed to have 754 nits of luminance.

The report reveals that for Galaxy S7, the luminance of red materials is 142 nits, green 338 nits, and blue 26 nits. To actualize 754 nits screen, the red materials have to improve luminance by approximately 1.5 times, green 1.2 times, and blue 3.7 times. UBI Research explained that for high resolution screen with limited size, emitting materials performance improvement is a must and that technology development should be focused on blue emitting materials.

* Luminance figures (nits) quoted in the article have been measured by UBI Research, with Auto Brightness function switched off. Future luminance forecast is also without this function.

Samsung Display, Spurs on OLED for Notebook and Tablet

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삼성디스플레이의 OLED HP Labtop

Samsung OLED Equipped HP Spectre 360 (Source = HP)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

With diverse merits, OLED application is increasing to include notebook, tablet, monitor, etc. Accordingly, Samsung Display’s OLED panel is being actively expanding to this market.

HP recently began shipping Spectre 360, a notebook equipped with Samsung Display’s 13.3 inch OLED with resolution of 2560 x 1600. Previously, in CES 2016 (6-9 Jan) Samsung Electronics revealed Samsung Display’s 12 inch OLED equipped Galaxy Tab Pro S, and HP and Dell also presented Samsung Display’s 13 inch mark OLED equipped labtop.

In SID 2016 (22-27 May), Samsung Display presented 2560 x 1440 resolution 13.3 inch and 14 inch OLED for notebook and actively targeted the notebook market. Following this, a Korean press reported that Samsung Display will stop production of TN panel, low resolution LCD panel for notebook and monitor. That Samsung Display is actively targeting the notebook market is analyzed to be a strategy to create premium market advocating diverse advantages of OLED.

Due to superior contrast ratio, OLED’s picture quality is clearer in comparison to LCD, and easy to create premium market as the weight can be lighter than LCD. Burn in effect, considered one of OLED’s drawbacks, is also known to have been much improved.

As the price of OLED is higher than LCD at present, specialist market, such as medical, should be targeted first. However, when the price competitiveness improves in future, popularization of OLED is anticipated. Accordingly, Samsung Display is actively taking action in notebook and tablet OLED market expansion. UBI Research reported that 2016 Q1 OLED panel shipment for tablet increased by more than 10 times compared to the same period in 2015.

According to UBI Research’s 2016 OLED Display Annual Report, the 11 inch – 13 inch, notebook and monitor use, OLED panel shipment is expected to record 100,000 units this year, and this is expected to increase by 10 times in 2020.

Samsung’s 806 ppi AMOLED, to Synergize both VR and Smartphone

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SDC`s 806 ppi OLED Panel for VR

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Samsung Display’s recently revealed 5.5 inch 806 ppi AMOLED is expected to contribute to the expansion of the global VR (virtual reality) market as well as providing synergy for both Samsung Electronics’ future VR and smartphone business.

In SID 2016 (22-27 May), Samsung Display revealed 5.5 inch AMOLED with resolution of 806 ppi. This 4K UHD display has the highest resolution for 5 inch mark AMOLED in industry.

The response speed of AMOLED is approximately 1,000 times faster than LCD and can actualize much superior picture quality due to exceptional contrast ratio. The reduced amount of harmful blue light is also another merit of AMOLED, and it is becoming the general trend for display for VR display.

Even at the same resolution, the visual effects for smartphone and VR device are different. For example, 577 ppi QHD resolution applied to Galaxy S7 can actualize quite clear picture quality for smartphone. However, when the display is directly in front of the eyes, in cases of VR, aliasing effects, when what is on the screen looks jagged, occurs. In order to produce clear picture quality with almost no aliasing effects in VR, expert believe that 1,500 ppi is required at minimum. However, the current VR AMOLED only can actualize up to high 500 mark ppi.

That Samsung Display displayed AMOLED with resolution of over 800 ppi for the first time should be noted. With this resolution, aliasing in VR can be significantly improved even if not perfectly. Furthermore, this AMOLED has the same brightness as the Samsung’s Galaxy S7. Considering the production yield improvement, this display could be used for Galaxy S8 (TBA) that is expected to be released in 2017. For VR device connected to smartphone, smartphone’s resolution is directly related to the VR’s picture quality. This means that the Samsung’s 806 ppi 5.5 inch AMOLED allows for UHD smartphone production as well as the introduction of VR with upgraded picture quality.

UBI Research explained that while some believe that ultra-high resolution is not necessary in small screen such as smartphone, the 4K UHD 5.5 inch AMOLED is significant in that smartphone is linked with VR which market is being opened. He added that the 806 ppi AMOLED recently revealed in SID 2016 by Samsung will contribute to the expansion of the global VR market as well as providing synergy for both Samsung Electronics’ future VR and smartphone business.

Silicone Better than Acrylic for Flexible OLED…Momentive Introduces InvisiSil

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Momentive demonstrated InvisiSil at SID 2016 (Source = Momentive)

 Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

One of the issues of flexible OLED actualization is acrylic’s vulnerability against lower temperature, and silicone is emerging as a solution. Meanwhile, Momentive is attracting attention with their promotion of silicone based InvisiSil.

One of the key encapsulation technologies for flexible OLED is TFE (thin film encapsulation) that laminates thin inorganic and organic films, used by Samsung Display. Of these, organic material is formed through inkjet OLED process using acrylic materials. However, acrylic organic materials are easily broken under 0 ℃, which leads to difficulties in producing flexible OLED using these. However, silicone based materials can withstand up to -40 ℃ and are considered strong candidate for acrylic replacement.

Momentive is a company that develops such silicone based materials. In SID 2016 (22-27 May), Momentive opened an exhibition booth and presented InvisiSil Snap Cure silicones. The InvisiSil Snap Cure systems can cure rapidly at room temperature without UV exposure.

Momentive explained that for flexible AMOLED panel to move past edge type and toward true flexible such as foldable and rollable, silicone is much better suited than acrylic. Furthermore, they added that silicone based materials have yet revealed any disadvantages compared to acrylic, and that it is in development for continued application to mass production.

AMOLED Growing in Chinese Wearable Market

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GEAK Watch 3rd at SID 2016

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com
 While most of wearable products including VR (virtual reality) device and smartwatch within Chinese market are equipped with LCD display, AMOLED’s presence is growing. Although the quantity is still low, several Chinese companies are presenting AMOLED equipped new wearable products such as VR and smartwatch, fast joining the general trend.
 GEAK, a Chinese smartwatch company, is expected to release new GEAK Watch which is equipped with both AMOLED and e-ink. GEAK exhibited GEAK Watch in the CES Asia 2016 which was recently held in Shanghai, China. In CES Asia 2016, GEAK explained that the new GEAK Watch is the 3rd generation product that utilizes AMOLED in dark and e-ink display such as Kindle in bright conditions. According to the personnel the AMOLED used for the product is produced by Truly, and the release date has not yet been confirmed.
 An expert of Chinese key AMOLED panel company told OLEDNET that while there were PMOLED equipped smartwatch products in China, not many used AMOLED. It was explained that this is due to higher price of AMOLED compared to PMOLED.

DeePoon`s New VR Device ‘M2’

DeePoon, Chinese VR market leader, is expected to release new AMOLED based VR M2 soon. M2 was presented in CES Asia 2016. At the event, DeePoon explained that the company is the only one to release AMOLED VR and AMOLED can actualize higher Hz figure compared to LED installed LCD panel, and has better visual experience when playing games etc.
 Chinese key mobile AMOLED company EverDisplay (EDO) is also releasing AMOLED panel for VR from this year. This company is planning to increase ppi of VR panel each year, and produce flexible AMOLED panel for VR with over 800 ppi before 2020.
 An industry expert explained that although Korea is leading the wearable AMOLED sector, Chinese market is also recognizing that compared to LCD, AMOLED has many advantages such as faster response time and better for human eye due to lack of backlight and blue light.

[SID 2016] Samsung Reveals 806 ppi VR Panel, Highest Resolution in Industry

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SDC Showcasing an 806ppi OLED Panel for VR ( San Francisco = OLEDNET )

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Samsung Display is drawing attention with 5 inch level VR (virtual Reality) device display with the highest resolution in the industry. The company also displayed Bio Blue, which minimized blue wavelength harmful to human eye.

At Society for Information Display 2016 ( SID 2016, 22-27 May), Samsung Display drew visitors’ attention with their new panel products such as OLED for VR and rollable OLED. At the exhibition booth, Samsung Display presented new 5.5 inch panel. The panel’s resolution, 806 ppi, is the highest pixel density of the 5 inch level VR panels published so far. The resolution is 3840 x 2160 with 306 nit brightness and 97% color gamut.

SDC`s ‘Bioblue’ (Sanfrancisco = OLEDNET)

Additionally, Samsung Display revealed another OLED panel for VR named Bio Blue. Bio Blue minimized harmful blue light by adding light blue to the existing RGB pixel structure. Displaying Bio Blue, the company emphasized that OLED is better for eye health compared to LCD. Of the total blue spectrum, the proportion of blue light harmful to human eye is 66% for LCD and 32% for AMOLED. Samsung Display added that AMOLED will be able to reduce this figure to 6% in future.

Samsung Display exhibited diverse OLED panels including 5.7 inch rollable and panel for notebook use.

[SID 2016] JDI CTO “LCD isn`t Suitable for Flexible”…Emphasizes ‘Human Friendly’

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a Slide from JDI Hiroyuki Ohshima CTO`s Keynote (San Francisco =OLEDNET)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

CTO of  JDI , Hiroyuki Ohshima, estimated that the display will evolve to flexible and human friendly, and emphasized that LCD is not suitable for flexible

During his keynote session in SID 2016 (22-27 May), Ohshima discussed the future of display. He explained that the display will evolve to System Integrated Display that combines different technologies and toward flexible.

Display is expected to become more interactive with human body. Beyond touching the screen with fingers, biological signals will be recognized such as heartbeat, eye gaze, fingerprint, and palm print. Through these, display will evolve into an input device that moves deeper into people’s lives.

For these to become a reality, Ohshima explained that diverse technologies such as touch, recognition, security, health care function, pen input need to be applied to the display. He stressed that display is heading toward flexible and noted LCD’s limitation regarding this issue.

Ohshima told the attendees that as LCD requires backlight and glass substrate is used, it is not suitable to actualize flexible panel. For OLED, it is expected to move forward to flexible and foldable exceeding ultra-thin and curved. However, he added that OLED still has several issues that need to solved including not being able to follow LCD in terms of pixel density.

[SID 2016] Samsung Display ’s EVP “The Future of Car, Window and Mirror is AMOLED”

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a Slide from Samsung Display EVP`s Keynote at SID 2016 (San Francisco = OLEDNET)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

As a keynote speaker for SID 2016, Samsung Display ’s Executive VP and Chief of Research Center, Dr. Sung-Chul Kim explained that display will expand human life experiences through application to automotive, window, mirror, etc. and emphasized that AMOLED will become a key solution for this.

During his keynote session in SID 2016, Kim explained display related technological issues and AMOLED’s advantages. In particular, he highlighted AMOLED’s characteristics suitable for flexible.

Displays that can turn from a wall or window into an information display simultaneously require flexibility and hardness. Kim also explained curved display is suitable for automotive uses. In terms of mirror display, AMOLED is suitable as superior color gamut is required.

Kim added that for realistic image required by VR (virtual reality) and others requires ‘driving tech’. He explained that foldable, rollable, deformable, and stretchable displays will produce more attractive devices, and provide new experiences through VR, automotive, digital signage, etc.

Kim told the attendees that display is a window to communicate with the world and expands lives. He emphasized that AMOLED is the key solution for future display, and will bring more opportunities than expected.

 

 

[ SID 2016 ]Samsung Rollable vs. LG 77“…Collision of OLED

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Rollable AMOLED at SID 2016 Samsung`s Booth (Source = Samsung Display)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Samsung Display and LG Display will showcase the technologies for next-generation displays at the 2016 Society for Information Display( SID 2016 ) conference, which is being held at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from May 22 to 27.
LG Display’s next-generation technologies including OLED TVs and automotive displays will be on show at the company’s booth from May 24 to 26 At this year’s SID 2016 , LG Display is placing its emphasis on the advantages of OLED and in particular the superior picture quality it offers along with its unlimited potential in application and design. The company will present its 77-inch Ultra HD OLED TV panel which provides the same level of color gamut in displays used by film-editing professionals.
It boasts unbeatable picture performance with perfect black expression and improved brightness by applying the High-Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology. LG Display will also showcase future concept displays such as 55-inch double-sided and 65-inch concave OLED displays for signage to meeting customers’ expectation for what’s coming next.
For customers in the rapidly rising automotive display market, LG Display will showcase its automotive display product line-ups from cluster displays to the Center Information Display (CID), including a 12.3-inch curved plastic OLED display and a 12.3-inch LCD panel realizing over 1,000 nit of brightness.
LG Display will also highlight its lifelike picture quality 31.5-inch 8K4K monitor and 14-inch Ultra HD resolution notebook panel embedded with high resolution and touch functions. In addition, the company will showcase a range of displays featuring its exclusive touch embedded technology, Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT), from the 6-inch mobile display, and 9.2-inch and 10.3-inch automotive displays that feature touch response even with a gloved hand, to the world’s first touch-enabled 15.6-inch notebook panel and 23-inch monitor panel.

Samsung Display will present latest displays from 5.7 inch rollable AMOLED, AMOLED for laptop, VR, and automotive to hologram at the company’s booth At this year’s SID 2016 .
The 5.7 inch flexible OLED that will be shown at Samsung booth has the highest industry resolution of QHD (2560×1440), and it is ultra-thin with 0.3 mm thickness.
The 5.7 inch rollable AMOLED that can be rolled to the width of a finger weighs 5g. With resolution of FHD (1920×1080) and curvature radius of 10R, the company explains that this has the best specs in terms of resolution and curvature radius of rollable products.
The 13.3 inch and 14 inch QHD AMOLED for laptop used on-cell touch technology. By internalizing the touch censor within the AMOLED panel, the thickness was reduced by 45% compared to LCD to 1.01 mm and weight by 33% to 120 g (13.3 inch). Samsung Display will also show 5.5 inch UHD (3840×2160, 806 ppi) prototype for VR. The number of pixels increased by approximately 2.3 times compared to QHD which is mainly used at present.
Samsung’s 65 inch UHD LCD product increased contrast ratio to 6,000:1 and reduced reflectance level to 2.3%, and HDR actualization is possible in mainstream products. The company will also display 65 inch UHD curved slim product with 5.9 mm thickness.
Samsung will also present Light Field technology related to 3D dimensional video that often appears in science fiction. The technology actualizes an object that looks different from different viewing angles on display and produces 3D film with high degree of completion. The digital hologram technology that allows 3D images to be projected will also be shown. These technologies could be applied to 3D pop-up book, 3D game, VR, AR, HUD, etc. in future.
Additionally, the company will show diverse lineup from Central Information Display to Cluster including 12.3 inch curved display equipped with automotive POLED and 12.3 inch product with high resolution and high brightness of over 1,000 nit.

DeePoon to Launch Samsung AMOLED Equipped New VR in June…Seeds of Chinese OLED VR

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DeePoon `s VR Device

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

DeePoon , Chinese VR (virtual reality) company, is launching a new VR device equipped with Samsung Display’s AMOLED panel in June.

Unlike Korean and Japanese companies such as Samsung Electronics and Sony that showed AMOLED VR already, Chinese VR companies are mostly releasing LCD equipped device. As one of the few Chinese companies that sticks to AMOLED, DeePoon is noteworthy.

At the CES Asia 2016 exhibition booth (May 11-13), DeePoon presented M2, AMOLED equipped VR device, which is to be released in June. M2, with 2K, improved picture quality from previous model E2. It is also an all-in-one type that can be linked to both mobile device and PC.

This company explained that OLED can actualize higher Hz figure compared to LCD, and demonstrates superior visual experience. They added that Samsung’s AMOLED panel was utilized, and emphasized DeePoon is the only Chinese company releasing AMOLED equipped VR device. In fact, at this event many Chinese companies presented LCD based VR. AltoTech introduced new VR product with FHD LCD panel which is expected to be launched in October.

EverDisplay (EDO), a key Chinese mobile OLED panel company, presented a beta version of AMOLED equipped VR device at CES Asia 2016. Following production of 3.2 inch 1K 400 ppi AMOLED for VR this year, EDO revealed plans to produce flexible based 800 ppi panel in 2019.

[CES Asis 2016] EDO, Accelerates Its Wearable Market…Reveals AMOLED Equipped VR

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EDO`s VR Device

EverDisplay `s VR Device

Shanghai=Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

EverDisplay (EDO), whose main force is mobile AMOLED, is accelerating its wearable market target.

In CES Asia 2016 (11-13 May) held in Shanghai, China, EDO presented VR (virtual reality) device equipped with their own AMOLED and revealed their roadmap in this market. The company displayed the VR device at the exhibition booth allowing the visitors to experience it. EDO explained that the device is a beta version, and although it has not been released, the picture quality is superior compared to LCD or LED equipped VR.

According to EDO, the company is planning to produce 3.2 inch 1K 400 ppi AMOLED for VR this year, and 3.5 inch 1.5K 600 ppi panel in 2017. Following this, the panel is to be improved to 2K 750 ppi in 2018, and EDO is planning produce flexible based 800 ppi panel in 2019.

EDO also revealed new AMOLED product in smartphone sector. In this exhibition, EDO showed 5.5 inch FHD panel that is already being mass produced, and flexible 6 inch panel to be mass produced in future.

Furthermore, the company exhibited new AMOLED panel in 3 types, 1.2 inch, 1.4 inch, and 1.41 inch, for smartwatch that will be consecutively launched from July. Of these, the 1.2 inch panel is expected to be used for Huawei’s smartwatch for women to be released in September.

CES Asia 2016’s participants greatly increased compared to last year, and 375 companies from 23 countries are taking part. Major companies such as Intel, Twitter, and BMW discuss wearable, VR, driverless cars, future of TV, etc. though conference.

 

[CES Asis 2016] Huawei to Release 1.2“ AMOLED Smartwatch for Women… EDO Panel Applied

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Huawei booth

Shanghai = Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Huawei is expected to release 1.2 inch AMOLED panel equipped smartwatch for women in September if early.

In CES Asia 2016 (11-13 May) held in Shanghai, China, Everdisplay (EDO) revealed that the 1.2 inch AMOLED panel product will be released in July, and Huawei will launch smartwatch for women equipped with this panel in September.

Previously Huawei released smartwatch for men equipped with EDO’s 1.4 inch AMOLED.

EDO, whose main focus is on AMOLED panel for mobile device, showed new AMOLED panels through this exhibition. EDO explained that of AMOLED panels for smartphone, 1.2 inch, 1.41 inch, and 1.4 inch panels are not yet released, and that 1.2 inch panel will be launched in July and 1.4 inch in 2017.

During this event, EDO also revealed 6 inch AMOLED panel to be mass produced in future and beta version of VR device equipped with their own AMOLED.

CES Asia 2016’s participants greatly increased compared to last year, and 375 companies from 23 countries are taking part. Major companies such as Intel, Twitter, and BMW discuss wearable, VR, driverless cars, future of TV, etc. though conference.

Samsung, Despite the Favorable TV Sales in Q1, Display Still in Deficit

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Source = Samsung Elec.

Samsung Elec. today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. Samsung’s revenue for the quarter was KRW 49.78 trillion, an increase of 5.7 percent YoY, while operating profit for the quarter was KRW 6.68 trillion, an increase of 12 percent YoY. In the company’s earnings guidance disclosed on April 7, 2016, Samsung estimated first quarter consolidated revenues would reach approximately KRW 49.0 trillion with consolidated operating profit of approximately KRW 6.6 trillion.

The first quarter saw overall earnings growth led by the early launch and successful sales of the flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, improved memory product mix, expanded 14nm supply of System LSI products and increased sales of OLED panels.
Overall earnings of the Display Panel business decreased due to a sharp decline in LCD panel earnings although earnings of OLED panels improved mainly driven by the Galaxy S7. The LCD business experienced temporary yield issues while adopting new process technology as well as TV panel price decline.

The IT & Mobile Communications (IM) Division saw a substantial earnings improvement both YoY and QoQ mainly driven by the early launch of Galaxy S7 and its strong sales and improved cost efficiency through the streamlining of mid-to-low-end smartphone lineups. Although the company had a one-time royalty settlement expense in the quarter, the impact on operating profit was equivalent to less than 1 percent of IM revenue.

The Consumer Electronics (CE) Division achieved significant earnings growth YoY led by expanded sales of premium TV models such as SUHD TV and Curved TV in developed markets, and also a notable sales increase of premium home appliance products in North America.

In the second quarter, the company expects its solid performance to continue led by steady earnings in the Mobile and Semiconductor businesses plus improvement of the CE and Display Panel businesses.

The IM Division is expected to secure solid earnings by expanding sales of the Galaxy S7 along with strong profitability of mid-to-low-end products. The CE Division expects to see improvements as seasonality should improve air conditioner sales, while flagship SUHD TV sales are expected to increase.

The Display Panel segment is expected to see earnings improvement compared to the previous quarter as LCD profitability is forecast to rise on stabilized TV panel yields and improved demand and supply conditions.

For the Display Panel business, OLED earnings are expected to improve due to growth driven by an increase in flexible and high-resolution panels. LCD panel profitability is expected to improve in the second half driven by high valued-added products amid better supply and demand conditions.

For the IM Division, the company expects the sales of flagship products to increase YoY, especially with strong demand for flagship products such as the Galaxy S7 and new model launches in the second half. In addition, the company will continue to manage cost efficiencies by streamlining its smartphone lineups.

For the CE Division, the company will focus on profitability by increasing premium products such as SUHD and Curved TVs. With the Olympics and other global sporting events forecast to drive global demand for large-size TVs, the company expects strong improvements in operating results YoY.

Meanwhile, capital expenditure (CAPEX) for the first quarter was KRW 4.6 trillion, which includes KRW 2.1 trillion for the Semiconductor business and KRW 1.8 trillion for the Display Panel business. The annual plan for CAPEX has not yet been confirmed but is projected to increase slightly compared to last year’s CAPEX based on various business opportunities. CAPEX for the Display Panel segment may increase as the company sees strong market demand for OLED panels. DRAM CAPEX will remain flexible based on supply and demand conditions but is expected to be lower than 2015.

The Display Panel segment posted KRW 6.04 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.27 trillion in operating loss for the quarter.

In the first quarter, shipments of OLED panels improved from the previous quarter, driven by launches of new high-end smartphone panels and strong demand for smartphones in the mid-to-low-end space. Conversely, the company’s LCD panel shipments decreased, affected by weaker demand during low seasonality.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, for OLED panels, Samsung hopes to actively address demand for new products and expand its customer base, while focusing on improving profitability of LCD panels by increasing shipments of strategic premium products such as UHD and large-size panels.

In 2016, the company expects OLED demand will continue to rise helped largely by growth in the mid-to-low-end smartphone segment while the LCD market will continue to be over supplied. In this market, Samsung hopes to actively address demand for new products, increase sales of value-added products and reinforce its leadership by developing new panel applications.

The IM Division – comprising the Mobile Communications and Networks Businesses – posted KRW 27.60 trillion in consolidated revenue, a 6.6-percent YoY increase, and KRW 3.89 trillion in operating profit for the quarter, a 42-percent YoY increase.

While smartphone and tablet demand saw a slight QoQ decrease due to seasonal effects, overall operating profit for the Division increased. This increase was largely due to the early launch and strong global performance of the flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, as evidenced by robust sell-out figures and low inventory levels compared to their predecessors. A streamlined mid-to-low-end smartphone lineup also contributed to improved profitability.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, while demand for smartphones and tablets is forecast to remain flat due to continued weak seasonality, the worldwide rollout of the latest flagship models as well as an increase in shipments of the mid-to-low-end Galaxy A and J series are expected to help the company maintain robust sales momentum and profit.

As for the year ahead, Samsung anticipates softening demand in the smartphone market and negative growth in the tablet market. The company will reinforce its leadership in the premium smartphone segment on the back of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, while continuing to increase volume and improve profitability in the mid-to-low-end segment. In addition, the company will continue to expand the Samsung Pay service to global markets and look into new business opportunities.

For the Networks Business, the company will seek growth through the continued rollout of 4G LTE services in new markets around the world, including Southeast Asia.

The Consumer Electronics Division – encompassing the Visual Display (VD), Digital Appliances (DA), Printing Solutions and Health & Medical Equipment (HME) businesses – posted KRW 10.62 trillion in consolidated revenue and KRW 0.51 trillion in operating profit for the quarter.

In the first quarter, TV market demand decreased YoY due to weak seasonality and economic downturn in emerging markets. Earnings for the VD Business showed significant growth YoY, led by increased sales of premium products such as SUHD and Curved TVs.

For the appliances business, earnings improved compared to the corresponding quarter last year, led by continued growth in the North American market and increased sales of innovative premium products such as Chef Collection refrigerators and the Activewash™ washing machine.

In the second quarter, TV demand is expected to slightly increase riding on sports events such as the Olympics. The company plans to further improve profitability by continuing to focus on the new and improved SUHD TVs with the world’s only cadmium-free Quantum dot display, while also increasing sales of premium products such as UHD TVs and Curved TVs.

Digital appliance demand is expected to rise due to seasonal growth for air conditioners, despite global market uncertainties. Against this backdrop, Samsung aims to increase profitability by expanding sales of innovative premium products such as a newly launched air conditioner and Family Hub Refrigerator. Additionally, the company expects to improve performance by expanding its enterprise business including built-in kitchens and system air conditioners.

Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Now Available in Pink Gold

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Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Pink Gold(Source : Samsung Elec.)

Samsung Electronics has released Pink Gold editions of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, bringing the total of available colors for the devices to five. Debuting in Korea on April 20, the Pink Gold Galaxy S7 and S7 edge will soon be available for customers in select markets.

Pink Gold was chosen as it, like the other colors available for the  S7 and S7 edge, is a natural color that provides a sense of comfort. These hues glitter and shimmer as if illuminated from inside their glass surfaces.

In particular, the refined, skin tone-inspired Pink Gold color scheme is intended to soothe and incorporate a touch of gentleness, radiance and sophistication to the smartphones’ design.

As well as Pink Gold, the S7 and S7 edge are available in a choice of Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl and Silver Titanium.

Samsung Display OLED Equipped iPhone 7S in 2017? Is it Possible?

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Samsung Display is Expected to Supply OLED for iPhone(Source: Apple)

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

On 14 April, one Korean media reported that Samsung Display agreed to supply OLED for Apple’s iPhone, and the forecast that Samsung Display OLED will be used for iPhone 7S (TBA) to be released in 2017 is gaining traction.

According to the Maeil Kyoungjae article published on 14, Samsung Display and Apple signed agreement of OLED supply of 3 trillion KRW worth of 5.5 inch panel a year, with 3 years of supplier right. Subsequently, it is known that Samsung will carry out new investment of total 10 trillion KRW for Gen6 flexible OLED exclusive line A3 factory, and supply 100 million units of OLED panel a year for 3 years from Q2 2017. The majority of the industry estimates that Apple will begin application of this panel from the model to be released in H2 2017.

No official confirmation is Samsung Display’s position. However, it has been widely known within the industry that Samsung Display has agreed to supply OLED for Apple from next year. OLEDNET analyzed whether Samsung Display’s OLED application to the new 2017 iPhone is possible.

UBI Research’s analysis of key Korean OLED manufacturing companies’ Financial Supervisory Service public announcements shows that the volume Samsung Display ordered for A3 line expansion is judged to be 30K. Samsung Display’s current A3 line is 15K volume. When the newly ordered 30K volume is established, the total volume becomes 45K.

1K equals 1,000 units of glass substrate per month. If 1 substrate can produce approximately 300 units of panel, 45K A3 line can mass produce 162 million units of OLED panel per year. Global iPhone sales volume is about 200 million units per year. For Samsung Display to supply about half of this volume, approximately 100 million units a year, the 45K line is enough.

The problem is that Samsung Display does not supply OLED to Apple only. UBI Research analyzes that when OLED panels of Galaxy series for Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display’s biggest client, is considered, 45K volume is not enough; at a minimum 60K is required to satisfy the demand of both Samsung Electronics and Apple.

UBI Research’s Choong Hoon Yi forecast that if Samsung Display carries out additional orders regarding A3 line expansion within this year and is equipped with over 60K volume, the company will be able to handle half of iPhone’s annual OLED supply at a minimum. He explained that the 45K could be insufficient to supply OLED for both Galaxy and iPhone series. Yi added that Samsung Display can at least supply a small volume of OLED to Apple, and have them be applied to the early batch of iPhone 7S (TBA) in H2 2017.

Foxconn’s Large Size Panel Yield, Equal to Samsung·LG within 2016

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Foxconn is expected to occupy approximately 22% of 2016 Q4 global large size panel yield(Source : Foxconn)

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

Foxconn is expected to occupy approximately 22% of 2016 Q4 global large size panel yield, similar to the levels of Samsung Display and LG Display.

Foxconn, recently confirmed to buy 66% of Sharp’s stake for $ 3.5 billion, is estimated to actively invest in improving Sharp’s panel competitiveness against Samsung Display and LG Display.

DigiTimes recently reported their research indicates Sharp’s large size panel yield will occupy 5.3% of global market in Q4 2016. This places the company on the 7th place after Samsung Display, LG Display, Innolux, AUO, BOE, and CSOT.

However, Sharp and Innolux are under Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn Technology). If the Q4 2016 large size panel yield of Sharp and Innolux are combined, the global occupancy is added to 21.9%. This is approximately the same level as Samsung Display (23.7%) and LG Display (22.7%).

Foxconn is analyzed to be investing in Sharp mainly with focus on OLED. According to a recent DigiTimes article, Foxconn is planning to invest approximately US$ 1.8 billion in OLED development.

DigiTimes estimates that Foxconn will actively begin mass production of OLED for smartphone from 2018, and expand the production to large and medium-sized OLED panel for TV, notebook, etc. Foxconn is forecast to begin shipment of OLED for TV from 2021, and annually ship 7,200,000 units of OLED panel for TV in 2025.

LGD’s Head of OLED TV Development Group, “65·55 inch, Growth Engine”

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LGD’s ChangHo Oh, “65, 55 inch TV are OLED TV’s Growth Engine”(Tokyo=OLEDNET)

LGD’s ChangHo Oh, “65, 55 inch TV are OLED TV’s Growth Engine”(Tokyo=OLEDNET)

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

LG Display has once again reaffirmed its determination to lead the TV market with OLED as the growth engine. In particular, the company is planning to actively respond to the increase of demand for 65 inch and 55 inch OLED TV.

On April 7, during the FineTech Japan Special Session, ChangHo Oh, LG Display’s OLED TV Development Group, gave a talk titled ‘Technology for Large Size OLED Display’ and emphasized the superiority of large area OLED panel.

As a display for a large size TV, LCD has light leakage issue, but Oh explained that OLED can solve this and actualize natural colors without distortion. Oh added that through self-emitting characteristic of OLED, the demands for large size TV picture quality can be solved, and through freedom in forms such as foldability, the design can be improved to less than 1 mm thickness. Furthermore, he added large size OLED panel’s advantages including superior light actualization in same color sector

a-Si, poly Si, and oxide substrates are mainly used for LCD, and for OLED it is oxide, and poly Si. Oh explained that as a part of responding to the panel enlargement, changing the a-Si of the existing mass production line to oxide could improve enlargement and safety.

Oh reported that as the demand for 65 inch and 55 inch TV is increasing, this will become the growth engine of the OLED market, and that P10 factory establishment in Paju is being carried out.

FineTech Japan 2016 (April 6-8) is a display technology related exhibition held in Tokyo Big Sight. The 26th annual event is participated by approximately 260 companies including Samsung Display, BOE, and Japan Display.

A Window that Turns into a Billboard…Samsung Display’s CTO “AMOLED, to Open New Era?”

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 Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

SDC’s CTO Sungchul Kim During Keynote Speech at FineTech Japan 2016

 

Samsung Display’s CTO, Sungchul Kim, displayed infinite potential of AMOLED’s new market creation ability, and emphasized that panel, manufacturing equipment, materials, and communication sectors need to grow together. He also suggested new life through AMOLED and technologies required for this.

On April 6, during the Technical Conference of FineTech Japan (April 6-8), Kim gave a keynote speech on the new market creating AMOLED’s next generation application and key technology.

As the market that AMOLED will newly open, Kim suggested mobile device, TV, VR and AR (virtual reality and augmented reality), automotive, PID (public information display), etc. According to Kim, these applications will be actualized through various forms of AMOLED such as foldable, rollable, stretchable, mirror, and transparent.

Explaining the utilization of mirror and transparent AMOLED, Kim emphasized that what is normally a wall or window can be turned into a PID that shows required information when needed. Kim explained that AMOLED is suitable for VR or AR that allows the user to realistically experience a particular environment or situation by combining the imaginary and reality. He added that when foldable and rollable displays are applied to mobile device, IT device, TV, etc., large screens can be produced while the device is small, and space utilization and mobility can be increased. Regarding automotive AMOLED, Kim explained that it will provide required information without disrupting driving, as well as improving the design of the vehicle.

Additionally, Kim suggested key technology required for actualization of each application. In the case of a window display, a technology that can simultaneously produce flexibility and hardness is required, and for automotive AMOLED, the technology for blue materials of phosphorescent materials needs to be improved. For transparent display that actualizes PID, transparency of each layer, substrate heat resistance, etc. have to be achieved.

Kim explained that in future, new life which is smart and connected through AMOLED will open. He further emphasized that for this to happen panel, manufacturing equipment, materials, and communication sectors need to grow together.

FineTech Japan 2016 (April 6-8) is a display technology related exhibition held in Tokyo Big Sight. The 26th annual event is participated by approximately 260 companies including Samsung Display, BOE, and Japan Display.

Foxconn to Actively Mass Produce phone OLED in 2018…7.2mn for TV in 2025

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Hyunjoo Kang /Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

Foxconn Headquarters, Source: Foxconn

With the forecast of gradually bolstered investment in OLED by Foxconn that recently bought Sharp for $ 3.5 billion, there is a possibility that this company could actively mass produce OLED panel for smartphone from 2018.

DigiTimes recently reported their research indicates that Foxconn will actively mass produce OLED panels for smartphone from 2018 and increase the OLED panel mass production in stages.

According to DigiTimes, Foxconn is planning to first mass produce small size OLED panel for smartphone and then begin medium size OLED for tablet, notebook, and TV. In 2021, It is expected to release 3 million units of OLED panel for tablet and notebook, and increase it to 10.4 million units in 2025. Hence, Foxconn is expected to occupy a quite significant amount of market share in future OLED panel market.

IT is estimated to begin releasing OLED panel for TV in 2021. It’s OLED shipment for TV in 2021 is expected to be 252,000 units, but it is estimated to gradually increase to record 7.2 million units per year in 2025.

 

◆ “IGZO Technology to be Applied to OLED”

 

In a recent press conference regarding the Sharp takeover, Hon Hai’s Chairman Terry Gou said that IGZO, which is LCD (liquid crystal display) technology of Japan’s Sharp, is better than OLED, Korea’s newest display technology. He further revealed that future Sharp display will utilize IGZO technology for approximately 60% of the panel and OLED for 40%.

IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) display is Sharp’s LCD. IGZO is known to have superior picture quality in comparison to the general LCD, with less power consumption. It is used in the majority of smartphone and tablet PC such as iPad.

As Foxconn’s Sharp is IGZO technology’s leading company, DigiTimes estimates that IT will apply the IGZO backplane technology on OLED panel.

UBI Research, an OLED specializing market research company, explained that as Sharp’s small size LCD process is LTPS based, and can be transformed to OLED line, it will be easier for Foxconn to achieve OLED mass production ability through Sharp. He added that this added Foxconn to the lineup of Samsung Display, LG Display, and Japan Display as the likely supplier for iPhone OLED panel for Apple. Furthermore, he analyzed that although Foxconn and Japan Display are both latecomers in OLED sector, Foxconn is in a more favorable position due to its solid relationship with Apple.

2015 OLED Emitting Materials Market, Dow Chem and LG Chem in Slump…Why?

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Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter /jjoo@olednet.com

 

 

In the midst of UDC`s domination of 2015 global materials market, with Japanese Idemitsu Kosan`s rapid growth and slump of emitting materials companied, there has been changes to the enviroment.

According to [2016 OLED Emitting Materials Annual Report] to be published by UBI Research in mid-April, the 2015 global emitting materials market recorded approximately a 17% growth compared to 2014

 

 

UDC’s revenue decreased from previous year, but remained at the top, the same as 2014. UDC was closely followed by Idemitsu Kosan despite its fourth place in 2014.

Such growth of Idemitsu Kosan is mainly due to its supply expansion in regards to Korean companies such as Samsung Display and LG Display. In 2015, Idemitsu Kosan began actively supplying Samsung Display with blue materials. Together with the increase in Idemitsu Kosan’s client LG Display’s OLED panel for TV mass production line’s operation rate, Idemitsu Kosan’s supply increased.

 

2015 Global OLED Emitting Materials Market Ranking
Source: UBI Research, 2016 OLED Emitting Materials Annual Report

◆ Samsung Display to Determine Up and Down of Companies

On the other hand, some OLED emitting materials companies that ranked high until 2014 showed poor performance. Dow Chem., that reached the second place in 2014 after UDC in revenue, fell to the fourth place in 2015 due to a big sales decrease. The third and fifth companies in 2014, LG Chem and Duksan Neolux respectively, fell below fifth place in 2015 due to the same reason.

Dow Chem. and Duksan Neolux are analyzed have recorded sales decrease in comparison to 2014 due to the supply chain changes of Samsung Display. In the case of LG Chem, the sales fell as the Samsung Display’s supply volume decreased.

However, Samsung SDI recorded sales increase, and entered within the top 5 in 2015. This company’s performance improved as it supplied Samsung Display with green host.

The company that recorded greatest growth is a Germany company Novaled that Samsung SDI, then Cheil Industries, took over. This company recorded approximately 150% revenue increase compared to previous year, and reached the third place in 2015 following UDC and Idemitsu Kosan. With the increase in OLED panel for TV mass production line’s operation rate, Novaled’s revenue greatly increased.

UBI Research estimated that in 2016, LG Display’s OLED TV mass production line operation rate and Galaxy Note series’ material structure, to be mass produced in the second half, will greatly affect revenue of OLED emitting materials companies.

Blossoming April… Hurt by LCD, Heal with OLED

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Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

Flexible OLED from LGD(CES 2016)

From April, the display industry is estimated to start mending the damage carried out by LCD with OLED.

 

In Q1 2016, Korean display industry suffered due to oversupply of Chinese LCD panels. Market experts believe that Samsung Display and LG Display will announce large Q1 deficit in April due to LCD.

 

However, the display market is expected to actively improve its performance from April.

 

Dong-won Kim, analyst with Hyundai Securities, estimated that great increase in profit is expected from Q2 2016 due to the increase in OLED operation rate and yield improvement. Also because of profitability improvement effect following LCD panel’s price rebound, the deficit will decrease.

 

LG Display’s performance in OLED sector is expected to noticeably improve. Over 90% of LG Display’s total mass production line is LCD at present. Hence, the fall of LCD price in Q1 is expected to have hit hard and OLED business is also showing deficit.

OLED TV from LG(CES 2016)

◆ After Harsh Q1, Warm Breeze of OLED… Spring for Equipment Industry Too

 

However, this will change from Q2. Analyst Hyeoncheol So of Shinhan Investment forecast that LG Display’s OLED TV sales volume and revenue in Q2 2016 will increase by 144% and 106% respectively. He added that the business deficit of OLED TV sector will greatly decrease.

 

LG Display is anticipating that the deficit will turn to profit in H2 2017, with the business profit of up to 1 trillion KRW in 2017, an increase of 115%.

 

Samsung Display, whose LCD and OLED ratio is 50:50, is expected to show 900,000 million KRW in deficit in LCD sector this first quarter. However, this is estimated to be compensated to some degree by the profit in OLED.

 

Samsung Display and LG Display are actively carrying out investment in OLED panel mass production line in Q1. As well as the investment in turning the existing LCD line to OLED, investment in new OLED line establishment is actively being carried out.

 

As such, with the optimistic outlook on OLED within the display market, flexible OLED manufacturing equipment companies such as Tera Semicon, Viatron Technologies, and Dong A Eltek had been discussed as the favorites of securities companies. In fact, Samsung Display’s flexible OLED manufacturing equipment related key collaborator AP Systems showed remarkable growth recording 12,100 million KRW in business profit last year.

 

UBI Research forecast that Korean companies will strengthen their dominance with their 2016 AMOLED shipment’s 95% occupancy of the global market. As OLED is becoming stronger in the TV, smartphone, and VR market, this will become a huge growth engine for global panel companies such as Samsung and LG.

 

[Light + Building 2016] OLEDWorks Presents Diverse Lineup to Open OLED Lighting Market

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Hyunjoo Kang, Reporter, OLEDNET

<OLEDWorks’ Keuka Module, Light + Building 2016>

 

OLEDWorks, an OLED panel lighting production company, is carefully opening the future lighting market with diverse future product lineup.

 

At the Light + Building 2016 (March 13-18), OLEDNET could observe OLEDWorks’ 6 types of Brite FL300 series, Brite Amber, Keuka module and others. The products showed 10,000-50,000 hours of lifetime, average efficiency of approx. 50 lm/W, CRI of 80-90, and with diverse color temperatures.

 

The OLEDWorks representative at the exhibition told OLEDNET that the company is aiming for general lighting market and the OLED lighting market will be actively open after 2-3 years earliest. OLED lighting has advantages of thickness and design freedom, and they estimated finding the killer application that can utilize these OLED merits is the key for the OLED lighting’s success.

 

[Light + Building 2016] OSRAM to Release Automotive OLED Lighting within 2-3 Months

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Hyunjoo Kang, Reporter, OLEDNET

 

<OSRAM’s O-ring, OLED Product Applied Automotive Rear Lamp>

 

During the Lighting + Building 2016 exhibition (March 13-18) held in Frankfurt, Germany, OSRAM revealed that OLED rear lamp equipped cars will be on the road within 2-3 months.

OSRAM exhibited O-ring, OLED product applied to automotive rear lamp at this exhibition, and OLEDNET could see the fruit of OSRAM’s steady automotive lighting product development.

 

 

<General OLED Lighting Concept Suggested by OSRAM>

The OSRAM representative at the exhibition explained that OSRAM will continue their focus on automotive lighting and develop products but at the right moment, will enter the general lighting market. The representative added that although only the basic concept of the general lighting is present for now, further development will be carried out in future.

[Light + Building 2016] “OLED is Organic Food of Lighting”… LGD Presents Diverse Lighting

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Hyunjoo-Kang, Reporter, OLEDNET

 

<LGD’s Flexible OLED Lighting>

 

OLEDNET visited Light + Building 2016 (March 13-18) held in Frankfurt where LG Display unveiled product line up that can be used to diverse applications such as flexible solution, luminaires, mirror solution, module solution, OLED panel products, and transparent connection solution.

During this exhibition, LGD demonstrated their well-deserved reputation as the world leading OLED lighting panel producer.

LGD presented diverse applications for OLED lighting that many people wanted to know. Although they were not directly displayed in the exhibition, the company showed photographs of OLED applied Korean traditional house hanok, as well as more commonly imagined uses such as cosmetic shop, office, show room, café, and restaurant.

<LGD’s Flexible OLED Lighting>

Speaking to the foreign press who attended the exhibition, Joon Park, LGD’s Head of OLED Lighting Sales & Marketing Division, explained that if world’s first Gen5 OLED lighting (1,000 mm x 1,200 mm) investment is carried out and mass production is carried out in H1 2017, additional cost reduction is possible in comparison to before the investment. Park added that the current OLED lighting places more importance to the user experience rather than profit. As organic food is receiving positive response within the market as premium products, OLED lighting will play the role of organic food within the lighting market.

2016, Korea Seizes AMOLED Market…95% of Global Market

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2016-2020 Global AMOLED Panel Market Shipment [1 Million] (source : UBI Research)

This year, Korea is expected to secure overwhelming leadership position within the global AMOLED panel market with 95% market share.

According to 2016 OLED Display Annual Report, recently published by UBI Research, approximately 270 million units of AMOLED panel are to be produced from Korea in 2016, approximately 95% of the global shipment.

For AMOLED panel market revenue, Korea is estimated to occupy 96% of the total market in 2016 with US$ 14,218 million. Korea is expected to maintain approximately over 70% of the market share until 2020, and lead the global market for several more years.

This is analyzed to be due to active response by Korean display companies against AMOLED application expansion by influential global smartphone companies.

Samsung Electronics is forecast to sell over 47 million units of AMOLED panel equipped Galaxy series in 2016. The projection that Apple will also apply AMOLED panel to future iPhone series for product differentiation is gaining traction.

Several companies, including LG Display and Samsung Display, are carrying out active investment for AMOLED panel mass production line from H1 2016.

Other than Korea, China is showing rapid movement within the global AMOLED market. China is estimated to produce approximately 11 million units of AMOLED panel in 2016, and occupy approximately 4% of the global shipment, marking the second place after Korea’s 95%. China is estimated to increase the market share each year and reduce the gap with Korea; in 2020, China is expected to hold 24% of global AMOLED panel shipment in 2020.

China’s AMOLED panel market revenue is also forecast to show significant growth with approximately US$ 500 million in 2016 to US$ 13,700 million in 2020, a 20% of the total market.

2016 OLED Display Annual Report forecasts that the global AMOLED market is to record approximately US$ 15,000 million in 2016, and grow to approximately US$ 70,000 million in 2020.

 

[2nd OLED KOREA Conference] Visionox Reveals Core Keyword for Flexible OLED Surge

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On February 24, Dr. Xiuqi Huang, Visionox’s general manager, gave a keynote speech at the 2nd OLED KOREA Conference (Feb 24-25). With the presentation title of Development of AMOLED Display: From Rigid to Flexible, Dr. Huang discussed how the flexible display was introduced and its future.

 

Flexible display is expected to solve CRT’s heavy weight, and FPD’s design limitation. Key issues include thin film formation process, structure that can withstand bending, and materials with high tensile strength. Dr. Huang emphasized that OLED is a display that can solve all 3 issues.

 

In order for flexible OLED to make the leap, Dr. Huang announced that 7 technological developments need to be carried out: encapsulation, TFT backplane, array design, flexible technology, flexible substrate, stress management, and module integration.

 

Visionox first developed flexible OLED in 2001, and revealed 5.2 inch flexible AMOLED of rollable type with 3 mm curvature radius and 20 um thickness in July 2015. They are aiming for mass production within 2 years.

 

Regarding OLED mass production, Dr. Huang revealed that the Gen 5.5 AMOLED mass production line phase1 4K will be increased to 15K until 2016, and Gen 6 AMOLED mass production line is expected to be in operation in 30K volume in 2017.

 

[2nd OLED KOREA Conference] LG Display, OLED is the Next Generation Display that Satisfies Both Performance and Design

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In the 2nd OLED KOREA Conference (Feb 24-25), Won-Gyun Youn, LG Display’s head of OLED TV Product Planning Team, gave a keynote speech. Through the presentation, he emphasized the importance of display’s design and performance and discussed why OLED will become important in next generation display.

 

Youn told the attendees that in the last few years, display performance issues, such as 3D, UHD, and HDR, and design issues, such as curved and super slim, arose together. Emphasizing these issues, Youn revealed that OLED is the display that can solve both. He added that in terms of performance, OLED can actualize perfect black and colors, cleanly express movement, and has wide viewing angle. In terms of design, OLED is thin and flexible, and can produce diverse shapes and be transparent.

 

LG Electronics and LG Display recently installed ultra large OLED signage OLED Moment in 2 places inside Incheon International Airport. They also presented OLED sculptures in various shapes such as tunnel, waves, cylinder, and others using 250 units of 55 inch OLED panels at N Seoul Tower. The 2 companies are carrying out aggressive marketing promoting OLED. Regarding OLED’s future, in short term, form factor changes are expected to occur following design change, and in mid-to-long term, the paradigm will shift with the introduction of rollable and transparent display.

 

Youn revealed that at present OLED has to resolve the expansion of the market and infrastructure, and improvement of productivity and technology. In order to solve this, research in improving the TFT mobility by more than 50%, and increasing the efficiency and lifetime is being carried out. He also added that they are researching ink-jet process, manufacturing equipment, and materials to develop soluble process.

 

[MWC 2016] Surge of AMOLED in China

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A surge of AMOLED panels by Chinese set companies is starting. Chinese set companies exhibited many AMOLED panel applied products in MWC 2016 (Feb 22 – 25), forecasting that the demand for AMOLED panel could greatly increase.

 

6 companies, including Huawei, ZTE, LENOVO, and Gionee, exhibited AMOLED panel applied smartphones. Particularly, Hisense and KONKA, well known as TV set companies, presented AMOLED panel smartphones and the Chinese set companies’ increased interest in AMOLED panel could be confirmed.

 

The majority of the AMOLED panel smartphones exhibited by Chinese set companies had 5 inch level panel with HD and FHD level resolution, and analyzed to have been supplied by Samsung Display.

 

Samsung Display is known to have significant amount of mainstream AMOLED panels to Chinese set companies in 2015. Following this trend, over 100 million units of AMOLED panels are expected to head toward China in 2016.

 

The key points are Samsung Display’s rigid AMOLED panel production capa. and whether the Chinese AMOLED panel companies can carry out mass production. The current Samsung Display’s rigid AMOLED panel mass production capa. is estimated to be insufficient to meet the demands for Samsung Electronics’ mainstream Galaxy model and Chinese set companies. Chinese panel companies have also announced active mass production from the first half of this year.

 

From the significant occupation of Chinese set companies that applied AMOLED panel within the Chinese smartphone market, panel companies’ supply ability of AMOLED panel for Chinese set companies is expected to be one of the issues in 2016.

Huawei’s Nexus 6P

LENOVO’s Moto X Force

 

2016 AMOLED Market, Estimated to Record US$ 15,000 Million, an Increase of Approx. 40% from 2015

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According to 2016 OLED Display Annual Report, published by UBI Research, 2016 AMOLED panel market is estimated to show US$ 15,000 million, which is a growth of approximately 40% from 2015. The report also expects the shipment to record 16% increase compared to 2015 with 270 million units, and 2016 to be the year for the AMOLED industry could take off again.

 

UBI Research revealed that “Samsung Electronics is actively selecting AMOLED panel for mainstream models of Galaxy and the demand for AMOLED panel by Chinse set companies is also increasing. Additionally, Apple’s application of flexible AMOLED panel for iPhone is becoming more concrete, and OLED TV sales is gradually increasing. As such LCD will be slowly replaced”. Particularly, regarding AMOLED for mobile device market, UBI Research explained that “the flexible AMOLED panel equipped set market analysis shows approximately 500K (Gen 6) per month will be required until 2020, and it is anticipated that active flexible AMOLED investment will be continually carried out”.

 

The AMOLED market growth staggered momentarily in 2015, but due to the increase of demand for mainstream AMOLED panel and flexible AMOLED panel, it grew with a large margin in 2015. Accordingly, investment for flexible AMOLED panel application for Apple’s iPhone, which is leading the total smartphone market with Samsung Electronics, is in consideration. The panel companies in China, Japan, and Taiwan are also anticipated to invest in flexible AMOLED panel, and bring energy into stagnated OLED related display industry.

 

According to the 2016 OLED Display Annual Report, the AMOLED panel market exceeded US$ 10,000 million with approximately 230 million units in 2015, an increase of approximately 25% from the previous year. It is expected to record US$ 67,000 million until 2020 with CAGR of approximately 46%.

AMOLED Panel Market Forecast (2016-2020)

D-21 to the 2nd OLED KOREA Conference

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The 2nd OLED KOREA Conference, which is receiving much attention as the world’s largest OLED international business conference, is only 21 days away. At this conference, the OLED industry leading panel companies, Samsung Display and LG Display are scheduled to give keynote sessions. Through this, future OLED industry direction forecast is anticipated. UBI Research is to discuss the rapidly changing the OLED industry’s current status and future, and China’s Visionox is expected to examine the flexible AMOLED’s potential and future market.

 

Furthermore, sessions with diverse topics are prepared. These include next generation backplane technology, AMOLED mass production technology, issues facing OLED industry, QLED which is receiving interest as the display after OLED, various applications for OELD, etc. Therefore, this event is expected to be useful for materials and manufacturing companies, as well as display panel companies, university, research lab, and display industry related professionals, providing assistance in responding to the next generation display industry and a place of sharing information and thoughts.

 

Particularly, away from formal discussions, the OLED Reception will prove to be a valuable time through conversations on future of OLED in a comfortable setting.

 

The 2nd OLED KOREA Conference will be held for 2 days on February 24-25 at The-K Hotel Seoul in South Korea. 9 sessions in total will be held with 30 speakers, including Samsung Display and LG Display, and approximately over 200 display related industry/academy players will be in attendance.

 

Advance registration is open until February 23 with approximately 10% discount. As the places are limited, early registration is recommended. Conference registration can be accessed through the 2nd OLED KOREA Conference homepage (www.oledkoreaconference.com). Enquiries can be made to Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.co.kr).

 

Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung Display’s CTO, What is Needed for OLED To Enter New Areas?

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Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung Display’s CTO, at the 1st OLED Frontier Forum (Jan 28) gave a presentation ‘AMOLED Technical Issue and Future’ and discussed OLED technological issues of the past and present.

 

Kim pointed out the fact that glass substrate is not always necessary for OLED as the most different factor compared to LCD, and emphasized flexible OLED where plastic substrate is used. Kim reported that flexible OLED issues include window’s durability and coating, touch panel’s electrode materials and flexibility, reduction of number of encapsulation layers and flexibility, and backplane’s low stress structure and OTFT application. He revealed that developing spherical stretchable display, which the user can zoom in, is also included in the product roadmap.

 

Regarding transparent/mirror display, Kim announced that this is the direction that OLED should head toward and added that layout design development suitable for different application areas is needed. Specifically, the transparent display should be developed to increase the transmittance area and decrease the TFT area, and the mirror display to optimize the ratio between the total reflection and half-reflection areas.

 

Additionally, in order to produce high resolution OLED, Kim mentioned that innovation in terms of pixel operation and backplane structure is needed. He emphasized compensation circuit and that whether high resolution display can be manufactured cheaply and using simple structure is the key.

 

Kim discussed wall display, IoT, educational display, etc. as the new applications which will become important in future. Particularly, mentioning the automotive display area, Kim explained that for OLED to enter these new areas, plastic materials suitable for each applications and technology that can correctly process this are required. In order for this type of research development to be carried out smoothly, Kim added that cooperation between the academia and industry is necessary.

 

New Products to be Released Using Visionox’s AMOLED Display

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On Dec. 25th, Visionox announced that two products using its display panels will soon be released, including a 5.5 inch AMOLED display applied to high-end smartphone, and a 1.45 inch AMOLED display applied to smartwatch.

 

5.5 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

5.5 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

 

It is noted that the 1.45 inch AMOLED display has a display resolution of 272X340 and pixel resolution of 300 ppi, which reaches the highest pixel resolution in the domestic similar products. The thickness is less than 1 mm and the frame is only 1.5 mm. Furthermore, this display also offers MIPI and SPI interface functionality.

 

1.45 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

1.45 inch AMOLED Display Panel, Source : Visionox

 

The smartwatch using 1.45 AMOLED display will be on sale in mainland China during the Spring Festival 2016 and the smartphone using 5.5 AMOLED display will be released to overseas market in Mar. 2016

OLED and Graphene Together Achieves Innovative Technology

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By Choong Hoon Yi

 

Korean research team is expected to greatly improve display’s transmittance and picture quality through fusing graphene technology, focus of much attention as the new material to OLED technology.

 

On December 15, ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) replaced the thin metal electrode that was used as transparent electrode on top of the OLED substrate with graphene transparent electrode, and succeeded in developing original technology that is conductive and transparent.

 

This research results were presented in Scientific Reports, a journal from the publishers of Nature on December 2.

 

The metal electrode used in OLED until now has been mostly silver material, but due to the reflection of internal light, the viewing angle changed depending on the angle. The external light also affected picture quality due to reflection.

 

In order to solve this problem, ETRI research team focused on graphene that mostly does not reflect internal/external light. By replacing the material, the team reported that the transmittance increased by approximately 40% and reflectance improved by approximately 60%.

 

OLED was successfully lighted by attaching graphene transparent electrode to the organic layer on top of the film form (23 x 23 mm, 30 ㎛ thickness) of substrate. The research team believes this will be able to contribute much when applied to transparent OLED display and white OLED-based large area OLED display in future.

 

Particularly, unlike the existing vacuum process OLED production method, this technology can be employed via lamination where film is attached to the organic layer and graphene. Therefore, OLED can be produced through simpler process. It is expected that this can be evolved into production technology using roll to roll process.

 

Additionally, ETRI, together with Hanwha Techwin, is working on applying graphene transparent electrode to OLED’s lower electrode through collaboration of high quality graphene thin film electrode materials. The related technology development results were published online by The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

 

ETRI’s Dr. Jeong-Ik Lee (soft I/O interface research section) anticipated that “this technology will be able to play a role in widening the gap with latecomer countries in OLED industry where challenging latecomers are strong”.

 

This research was carried out through Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion (IITP)’s “Energy reducing environment adapting I/O platform technology development for future advertisement service” project and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology’s “Substrate size 5.5 generation or larger graphene film and OLED device/panel foundation and application technology development for graphene materials OLED transparent electrode and thin film encapsulation application”.

 

ETRI is planning to additionally develop sheet tension reducing technology by manufacturing metal in thin, grid forms and enlargement technology to produce mobile display size within 2016.

 

Through this technology, the research team produced 6 international patent applications and 6 papers. ETRI is intending to transfer the technology to graphene film and display panel companies among others. Commercialization is estimated to begin after 3 years.

1.Graphene transparent electrode applied lit OLED

1. Graphene transparent electrode applied lit OLED

 

2. OLED with existing thin metal electrode and graphene electrode OLED comparison (Left: Graphene, Right: Thin Metal, Ag)

2. OLED with existing thin metal electrode and graphene electrode OLED comparison (Left: Graphene, Right: Thin Metal, Ag)

 

3.Film including graphene transparent electrode applied to lamination process using OLED production

3. Comparison graph of existing thin metal electrode OLED and graphene electrode OLED

 

4.Film including graphene transparent electrode applied to lamination process using OLED production

4. Film including graphene transparent electrode applied to lamination process using OLED production

 

5.Graphene transparent electrode OLED Production Process

5. Graphene transparent electrode OLED Production Process

 

[Process Explanation]

After manufacturing laminated film, formed with bonding layer (BL) and PET film, using surface treated substrate, graphene transparent electrode is transferred on to the bonding layer. By laminating the laminated film that includes graphene transparent electrode on the substrate (lower electrode and organic layer), OLED where graphene transparent electrode is used as upper electrode is complete.

 

6.Graphene OLED of diverse colors

6. Graphene OLED of diverse colors

Now is the Time to Invest for OLED to be the Next Generation Display

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By Hyun Jun Jang

 

 

 

 

On December 10, a seminar specializing company bizocean held ‘2016 Next Generation Display’s Latest Trend and Cutting Edge Industry Application Issues and Business Creation Seminar’ in Korea Technology Center. Professor Changhee Lee of Seoul National University, the first speaker of the seminar, announced that as OLED will become the technology for future display, now is the time for investment by the companies.

 

Lee reported that the display follows camera’s resolution, and although resolution has been developed up to UHD, he forecast that it will advance further. He also added that higher the resolution, the display performance that consumers demand will increase.

 

Regarding the current display market status, Lee explained that as the LCD’s margin is falling the market has to turn to OLED, but it is still expensive and capacity is low. Additionally, from the way consumers are still using the term liquid crystal regarding Samsung’s AMOLED smartphone, Lee speculated that people have difficulty in distinguishing between LCD and OLED. He told the audience that the industry should inform the public of the OLED’s differences from LCD through transparent, flexible displays that show OLED’s superior traits, and open the market through product differentiation strategy.

 

For the future display, Lee pointed out printing OLED. He explained that although printing OLED’s lifetime, particularly blue’s, falls short compared to vacuum evaporation, it is estimated to reach commercialization stage after 2-3 years. Despite the flaws in terms of materials, Lee reported that the advantages such as reduced production cost, fast tact time, and material usage efficiency will lead to the opening of the market. For these reasons, Samsung and LG are carrying out development.

 

Lee forecast that LCD, in its maturity stage of the industry life cycle, will lead the market for a while, but OLED technology will rapidly evolve and become the focus of the next generation display market. Regarding OLED TV, Lee mentioned that large area OLED mass production through printing technology is urgent in order to achieve price competitiveness. At present, OLED’s capacity is less than 1/100 of LCD. As such, even if there is demand, supply may not be able to meet it and Lee suggested the need for investment to the companies. He added that if there is low supply when the number of customers is high, the opening of the market could be delayed.

 

<Display Market Forecast Source: Professor Changhee Lee Presentation Material>

Lee mentioned QLED as another future display technology. QLED has the same structure as OLED but uses quantum dot as the emitting materials, changing colors through different sizes. Lee reported that the color gamut is high as the wavelengths are shorter than OLED emitting materials. Also as the same material is used, QLED has an advantage of reduced material production cost and development of micro display with 2,000 ppi is complete. However, Lee added that as the lifetime is nowhere near sufficient, commercialization stage is still far away.

[2015 OLED Evaluation Seminar] Oxide TFT Technology that 2015 should Spotlight

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By Hyun Jun Jang

 

During the 2015 OLED Evaluation Seminar (December 4) hosted by UBI Research, Professor Jin-Seong Park of Hanyang University gave a presentation titled OLED Oxide TFT Technology Trend, discussing oxide TFT, related industry, and technological issues as well as TFT technology that should receive the spotlight in 2016.

 

Oxide TFT has an advantage of high mobility and large area uniformity compared to a-Si TFT. As such, it is being more applied to large area OLED panel and used in LG Display’s OLED TV.

 

Park revealed that there are mainly 4 issues regarding oxide TFT and led with the reliability issue. Oxide TFT is essentially in amorphous state but when crystalized, the density and crystallizability increase; as oxygen does not move away and stay in place, defects occur less and reliability is high. Japan’s SEL and Sharp published CAAC (C-Axis Aligned Crystal) structure related oxide TFT paper, and Cornell University produced CAAC oxide TFT by increasing the substrate temperature and adjusting oxygen’s partial pressure.

 

The second issue is composition ratio. Park reported that composition ratio is the most closely related characteristic to TFT’s mobility. He revealed that recently research is being carried out centering around IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide), but also oxide TFT research with different composition ratio is continually published. For example, ITZO (indium tin zinc oxide)’s mobility has been reported to reach 30cm/Vsec, and BOE is working on the related research. Research results, which showed increased mobility and reliability for IGZTO, which is IZTO with G added, was published, as well as ZnON (zinc oxide nitride) TFT’s 100cm/Vsec mobility. BOE demonstrated ZnO TFT applied 14.1inch AMOLED.

 

The third issue is the device structure. Park explained that efficiency can increase when top gate structure is used to oxide TFT as parasitic capacitor is not needed, but that the process is difficult. However, Park reported that JOLED revealed when self-alignment is used the number of masks used can be reduced and increases performance. This structure is applied to OLED TV by LG Display.

 

Lastly, Park gave the safety of device as the last issue. Oxide TFT can exhibit degradation effects from light, oxygen, hydrogen, and moisture. Park reported that hydrogen particularly has great effect on the safety. He explained that although the current prevailing OLED TFT is LTPS, as the panel becomes larger there will be technological competition between oxide and LTPS. Reporting that TFT which is cost efficient and shows high performance in diverse factors such as resolution will dominate the market, Park concluded his presentation.

 

 

 

[2015 OLED Evaluation Seminar] Professor Hong Mun-Pyo of Korea University Retraces Flexible OLED’s Key Issues

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By Hyun Jun Jang

 

During the 2015 OLED Evaluation Seminar (December 4) hosted by UBI Research, Professor Hong Mun-Pyo of Korea University gave a talk titled Flexible AMOLED Gas Barrier Technology Development Status. Through this presentation, he discussed in detail flexible OLED’s outline, technological issues, and encapsulation among other key issues.

 

Flexible display signifies a display that was produced on top of flexible substrate, and not an existing glass substrate, which can bend, fold, or roll without breaking. Hong emphasized flexible display is the next generation display that can simultaneously satisfy consumers and panel makers, and an area that OLED can be more valuable compared to LCD.

 

There are 3 essential issues in flexible display, substrate, TFT array, and display processes, as well as ancillary issues such as application and cost. Hong reported key issues regarding substrate and display process.

 

Flexible display uses plastic substrate, instead of glass, that is strong against shock and can bend. Therefore, handling technology that manages plastic substrate is considered a key technology in flexible display production. Hong revealed that for handling technology, a film lamination method and vanish coating method are mainly used. A film lamination method is where plastic substrate is attached to carrier glass using adhesive before being processed and a vanish coating method is where the PI substrate is coated to the carrier glass before processing. He emphasized that no matter which method is used, the debonding technology used to detach the plastic substrate from the glass plays a crucial role in deciding yield.

 

Hong followed the substrate discussion with encapsulation technology. Encapsulation technology prevents moisture and oxygen that affect OLED panel’s performance from infiltrating in order to increase the display’s lifetime. As it is a core process that decides OLED panel’s yield, OLED panel production companies are focusing on optimum encapsulation technology development.

 

Key issues of encapsulation technology that is currently being applied to flexible OLED, barrier coating related issues are considered the most important. Barrier coating is the coating applied to the plastic substrate to overcome the limitations that occur as existing glass substrate is replaced by plastic. For flexible encapsulation, as can type or frit seal technologies that were used for glass encapsulation cannot be used, face seal or TFE technologies that can be applied to flexible are used. Also, as the permeability of oxygen and moisture has to be 10-6g/m2day or less, high performing barrier coating technology is needed.

 

When barrier coating is used to flexible OLED, generally 3 problems occur. Firstly, physically cracks or particles can develop. Regarding this, Hong explained that this issue can be solved if process is properly maintained. The second problem is micro defects that can arise on the surface of plastic film, which can be solved through optimized process, according to Hong. Lastly, nano-sized pin holes can come up. Hong revealed that multi-layers of barrier coating can solve this problem.

 

Generally, when OLED panel is produced the thickness of encapsulation layer is not a big issue. However, Hong emphasized that the thickness becomes a core issue when producing flexible OLED panel. He reported that hybrid structure of encapsulation where gas barrier cover plate is attached to passivation layer placed via PECVD can be the solution.

 

Although the most suitable process technology for hybrid encapsulation production is R2R, as appropriate results are not obtained when CVD is applied to R2R, Hong reported that research is being carried out toward the sputtering using direction. He revealed that if reflection plate is added to the sputtering equipment and neutron beam release is induced, defects that occur during the sputtering process can be reduced as the target thin film stabilizes.

 

홍문표 교수2

AMOLED Smartphone to Exceed 200 Million Units This Year

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It is anticipated that AMOLED display equipped smartphone will exceed 200 million units this year.

 

According to a market research company UBI Research, AMOLED equipped smartphone recorded 60 million units in Q3 2015, and estimated the total shipment of this year to be above 220 million units. This is approximately a 40% increase compared to last year’s result of 160 million units.

 

2억대1

 

This increase of shipment for AMOLED applied smartphone in 2015 is analyzed to be due to AMOLED panel application to low-to-mid priced smartphone and increase in the number of models produced.

 

table

 

Q3 2015 performance of 60 million units is a 26% QoQ, and 80% YoY, and analyzed to be showing a rapid growth.

 

2억대3

[Automotive Display Seminar] Automotive Display, Urgent Transparent Display Technology Development Needed

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By Choong Hoon Yi

 

On November 13, Automotive Display Development Technology and Commercialization Planning seminar was hosted by Educational Center of Future Technology in Yeouido, South Korea.

 

KATECH (Korea Automotive Technology Institute)’s Dr. Sun-Hong Park explained that “as the automotive display market grows, display market’s domain is expanding” and announced “market for CID (Central Information Display) that mainly functions as navigation device and HUD (Head Up Display) that can show mileage and speed is steadily growing since 2008 and it is anticipated to grow considerably in future”. He added that particularly, 7inch or larger CID is increasing its market share in display market and that CID is becoming larger. He also mentioned that with the increase of traffic accidents from driver’s lack of attention to the road, HUD that can show information on the front window is necessary. However, legibility issues due to brightness and reflectiveness and technological issues such as integration with other display device need to be solved.

 

Dr. Sun-Hong Park of KATECH (Korea Automotive Technology Institute)

Dr. Sun-Hong Park of KATECH (Korea Automotive Technology Institute)

 

Dr. Chi-Sun Hwang of ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) compared display technology that can actualize transparent display, and technological issues to be solved in order for it to be applied to automotive. Hwang explained that although display technology that can produce transparent display include LCD, OLED TFEL (thin film EL), HUD (projection) among others, AMOLED is the most suitable considering resolution and transmittance. Although LCD technology level is at commercialization stage, as the transmittance is not high it can interfere with the driver’s viewing field. He also added that “poly Si TFT technology performance is good, transmittance is limited. However, oxide TFT technology’s transmittance is high and performance is continuing to improve, it needs to be more actively developed”. To be used as an automotive display, it has to meet certain conditions such as temperature, production cost, and brightness to be an automotive component as well as being placed in the suitable location in the driver’s viewing field; compared to other general display, automotive display is facing higher number of technical issues.

 

Dr. Chi-Sun Hwang of ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

Dr. Chi-Sun Hwang of ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

 

Source: Dr. Chi-Sun Hwang of ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

Source: Dr. Chi-Sun Hwang of ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

 

With the focus on the transparent display from automotive display industry, the interest in the technology needed for the application to automotive is also increasing. In order to lead the automotive display market, understanding of automotive components’ characteristics and effort to solve the diverse issues facing the optimized driving condition are required as well as knowledge of display itself.

Visionox Reveals 604PPI High Resolution AMOLED

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On November 12, Visionox announced that they recently developed 604ppi (approximately 4.85inch) high resolution full color OLED panel through FMM (fine metal mask) using evaporation technology.

 

Visionox Z-Type(Source : OLED-info)

Visionox Z-Type(Source : OLED-info)

 

In 2014, Visionox developed 570ppi RGB AMOLED panel with newly developed pixel structure, Z-Type. This Z-Type arrangement had larger blue sub-pixel with green and red sub-pixels beside it. The new panel has resolution of 604ppi which is a 35ppi increase from the 2014 panel. With this new reveal, Visionox displayed their high resolution OLED technology improvement.

 

The 604ppi panel combined the self-developed pixel layout under proprietary intellectual property rights and co-developed Chinese FMM. The resolution is 2,560 × 1,440, manufactured using real RGB method and not pentile.

 

Chinese companies are developing their high resolution AMOLED panel technology at a fast pace. In August, EverDisplay presented 734ppi 6inch panel, and the technology difference with Korean panel companies is rapidly decreasing.

 

Visionox revealed that this OLED panel shows Visionox’s research development for high resolution OLED is continuing and aptly demonstrated the current results.

 

604 PPI High Resolution Display Panel (real RGB) (Source: Visionox)

604 PPI High Resolution Display Panel (real RGB) (Source: Visionox)

Samsung and LG’s Shared Vision for OLED

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On the first day of OLEDs World Summit (October 27-29) held in Berkeley, USA, Samsung Display and LG Display gave their talks back to back. Samsung Display’s Vice President Chang Hoon Lee and LG Display’s Joo Soo Lim discussed their thoughts on OLED under the titles of ‘The Future of OLEDs’ and ‘A Future Game Changer’ respectively.

Samsung Display’s Lee, who gave his presentation first, reiterated Samsung Display’s leadership position in the mobile market and how Samsung Electronics’ recent mobile display reflects this. Comparing RGB pixel structure and their own diamond pixel structure, Lee drew comparison between human eyes and diamond pixels; due to cell distribution in eyes, humans are more sensitive to green colors and that diamond pixels reflect this by having twice as many green subpixels as blue and red ones. The diamond pixels also maximize the sub-pixel packing and increases the PPI.

Regarding the advantages of OLED display, Lee gave 2 examples using Samsung Electronics’ latest smartphone models. Utilizing the fact that selective control of each pixel is possible in AMOLED displays, Samsung provided Vision Aid to help people with color blindness. OLED’s ability to achieve total black is used in Super Dimming function where screen brightness can be reduced to 2nits to be used in the dark environment.

LG Display’s Lim revealed that an adult in the US spends 9 hours 40 minutes a day on average looking at one form of display or another. Highlighting the need and importance of quality display, Lim also discussed advantages of OLED display over LCD such as total black, 3D effects, and color gamut.

As the future OLED display, Both Lee and Lim placed slightly more emphasis on flexible (plastic) OLED than transparent or mirror display. Samsung Display discussed requirements necessary for a successful flexible display in more depth touching on the need for suitable cover window, flexible touch (sensor), flexible encapsulation, and flexible backplane. On the other hand, LG Display discussed flexible display’s design freedom and its influences on the wearable, mobile, and automotive markets. Lim also placed much importance on how flexible OLED can be used in virtual reality display market. The 2 speakers ended their talks affirming the need for new display market and innovation through OLED technology and new applications.

The presentations given by the 2 apparent leaders in the OLED display industry were remarkably similar with both speakers underlining major points of OLED in broad strokes. The need for solutions for future OLED, whether it be flexible, transparent, or mirror display, through innovation and technological advances is an absolute truth if not maybe too obvious. There also may be some comfort to be had in the shared vision within the OLED community. However, it is also a fact that numerous attendees of the conference commented on the similarities of the 2 presentations and the lack of any surprises.

Hon Hai Precision, Actively Participating in AMOLED Panel Business?

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On September 9, Tera Semicon Corporation announced the agreement with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision to supply AMOLED manufacturing equipment worth approximately US$ 79,000 million*. Tera Semicon mainly supplies OLED crystallization equipment for poly-Si and curing equipment

 

Hon Hai Precision is a world leading manufacturing company that began as an electronics component manufacturing company in the 1970s and became a contract manufacturer in the 2000s. Hon Hai Precision is better known to consumers as its subsidiary company as well as its trade name, Foxconn.

 

Hon Hai Precision has been consistently preparing for OLED panel production. Hon Hai Precision’s subsidiary company Innolux took over Chimei, which has technology to mass produce OLED, and in 2013 announced plans to establish OLED R&D center in LCD factory operated jointly with Sharp. Additionally, in September 2014, Hon Hai Precision mentioned that they will actively begin flexible AMOLED panel development aiming to mass produce in 2016.

 

This order for Tera Semicon Corporation is analyzed to be in consideration of Apple’s application of flexible AMOLED panel for iPhone series. Apple is Hon Hai Precision’s best client; of the total manufacturing products iPhone occupies 18% and iPad 17%.

 

At present, Samsung Display and LG Display are the only companies capable of flexible AMOLED panel mass production, with AUO and Japan Display perhaps joining the ranks in the next 2-3 years. With this Hon Hai Precision AMOLED manufacturing equipment order, heated competition for flexible AMOLED panel supply is expected.

 

 

*1 USD = 1,100 KRW

General Class AMOLED Panel Estimated to be Extensively Supplied. How Will it Affect OLED Industry?

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Only 2 models of smartphone with the general class AMOLED panel were released in the first 2 quarters of 2015. However, as 5 more models were revealed until August in the third quarter, it is expected that demand for general class AMOLED panel will gradually increase.

 

Currently 7 companies, including Samsung Display, are mass producing or aiming to mass produce small to medium-sized AMOLED panel of rigid type. China’s EDO or Taiwan’s AUO are believed to be producing in small quantity for samples. Other Chinese companies are also aiming to mass produce AMOLED panel but satisfying the current demand is analyzed to be difficult. At present, Samsung Display is the only panel company that can meet the demand for general class AMOLED panel by set companies. There is much interest in whether AMOLED industry can rebound with the Samsung Display’s movement in the second half.

 

It is expected that Samsung Display will increase operation rate of A1 and A2 rigid lines in the second half in order to meet the demand for general class AMOLED panel. Following this, emitting material companies’ sales increase is also anticipated and positively affect management of AMOLED industry’s ecosystem.

 

If the demand for general class AMOLED panel is higher than expected, there are some who believe that additional investment for A3 line could be for hybrid structure that can switch between rigid and flexible rather than flexible exclusive line.

 

There is much focus on how Samsung Display’s mass production and supply plans for general class AMOLED panel will affect the AMOLED industry growth.

 

General Class AMOLED Panel Applied Smartphone Released Until August 2015

OLED TV, Pay Attention to China and UHD

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IFA 2015 that opened on September 4, closed its curtains on 9. This year’s IFA was similar to IFA 2014 in terms of diverse OLED TV exhibition, but when analyzed in detail there were several differences.

 

First, the emphasis on UHD TV greatly increased. The percentage of UHD resolution of exhibited OLED TV was approximately 71% in IFA 2013, and 70% in IFA 2014. However, in IFA 2015, the percentage increased to approximately 92%. If the main theme for IFA 2014 was curved OLED TV products, UHD was the keyword for IFA 2015.

 

Another important factor is increasing participation by Chinese companies. In IFA 2013, only Haier exhibited OLED TV but this increased to 2 companies, Changhong and TCL, in IFA 2014. In IFA 2015, 3 companies, Haier, Changhong, and Skyworth, presented OLED TV. It is estimated that the OLED TV exhibition attendance by Chinese electronics companies will continue to consistently increase.

 

There is much attention on how many more Chinese companies will participate with OLED TV in IFA next year, and whether a new keyword following UHD will appear. Although IFA 2015 ended, OLED TV market continues to move.

 

uhd china graph 1

 

uhd china graph 2

 

uhd china graph 3 2

Minus Growth for H1 OLED Material Market with Mere US$ 564 Million*

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According to UBI Research, the 2015 H1 OLED material market recorded approximately US$ 564 million; this is a 14% increase compared to 2014 H2, but a 24% decrease against 2014 H1.

 

Despite reports that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are selling much larger volumes of flexible OLED applied Galaxy S6 Edge and OLED TV respectively compared to last year, the OLED material market is gradually stagnating.

 

The main reason for this OLED material market’s downward turn is Samsung Display’s operation level which remained stationary at 50% in H1. This led to stationary material usage compared to the year before. LG Display is producing flexible OLED and large size OLED panel for TV. However, approximately only 100,000 units of OLED panels were sold in H1 and material usage was also lowl. The current capa. is 34K but as the OLED material cost spent in H1 is approximately US$ 36 million, the operation rate is analyzed to be only 30% of the total capa.

 

The OLED material market is decreasing because the supply price is rapidly falling without increase in production volume. OLED material companies are frustrated at the 10-15% price decrease per quarter. At present, as the only clients are Samsung Display and LG Display, material companies are compelled to reduce the price as the failure to do so could lead toward the termination of business. OLED material companies spend several thousands of millions of dollars annually on development to meet constant improvement demanded by clients. There is much difficulty for OLED material companies as display companies continue with one-sided demands without compensation regarding development cost.

 

For OLED industry to maintain its continued growth, it requires more than success of panel companies. Material companies that play a pivotal part within the industry have to continue development and production of quality materials in order to create a healthy growth cycle. However, display companies are destroying the ecosystem.

 

What OLED material companies currently crave is for Chinese display companies to mass produce OLED panels as soon as possible.

 

* 1 USD = 1,100 KRW

 

OLED Material Market Revenue 2014 H1 – 2015 H1

OLED Material Market Revenue 2014 H1 – 2015 H1

[IFA 2015] OLED TV’s Advantages from Skyworth’s Point of View

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In IFA 2015 (September 4-9), Skyworth exhibited 65inch 4K OLED TV in 3 curved and flat sets each in order to emphasize OLED TV’s advantages. Skyworth presented an interesting booth by providing a large screen in the middle of the booth for the visitors to experience OLED TV playing the F1 racing game.

 

OLED TV is the best TV to show video with fast movements as it has fast response time of u/sec. As the video is not delayed, the viewers can enjoy the contents without afterimage. This fast response time cannot be actualized in LCD TV.

Skyworth booth, IFA 2015

Korea’s Large Area AMOLED Manufacturing Equipment Market To Record Approx. US$ 8,640 Million For Next 5 Years

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According to UBI Research’s OLED Manufacturing Equipment Annual Report (published on August 31), the complementary investment market in Korea is expected to record approx. US$ 8,640 million between 2016 and 2020.

 

According to the report, once Chinese new LCD lines actively begins to operate, panels produced by Korea’s Gen8 a-Si LCD lines are estimated to fall behind in price competitiveness. Therefore, complementary investment should be processed to transform the a-Si LCD line to OLED line. The report estimated that if complementary investment for OLED is carried out, oxide TFT with less masks is the most suitable backplane structure. This has the advantage of utilizing the most of the existing a-Si LCD line. The report also forecast that future large area AMOLED mass production investment will mainly be complementary investment rather than new investment. Complementary investment signifies investing in evaporation and encapsulation manufacturing equipment while using the existing a-Si line backplane. New investment means investing from the backplane stage. The report analyzed that complementary investment will lead to the decrease of large area OLED panel’s production cost.

 

Investment cost comparison shows that approx. US$ 600 million is required for new investment in Gen8 Oxide TFT key equipment (20K). However, complementary investment requires approx. US$ 80 million and can save the investment cost by approx. 7 times compared to the new investment.

 

그래프1(영)_v0

 

그래프2(영)

[IMID 2015] UDC Develops OLED Patterning Technology with Less Masks

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At present, FMM (Fine Metal Mask) is considered the main method for large area RGB OLED panel production. However, due to shadow effect, mask total pitch fluctuations, and mask slit tolerance issues, there is a yield limitation to this technology. This limitation increases as the resolution becomes higher; minimizing the number of FMM during the OLED panel production has been a key issue in RGB OLED production.

 

In SID 2014, through a paper titled “Novel Two Mask AMOLED Display Architecture”, UDC revealed a technology that can reduce the number of masks used in RGB-FMM method to 2 from previous 3.

 

Source : UDC, SID 2014

As shown above, this technology coats yellow and blue subpixels using 1 mask each. Following this process, green and red color filters are applied above the subpixels. Pixels are formed as illustrated below.

 

Source : UDC, SID 2014

UDC explained that this technology improves lifetime of the display overall and reduces energy consumption as blue voltage can be lowered. Additionally, tact time can be reduced through this technology, and increase the yield.

 

In IMID 2015, UDC presented research of the same title. However, the content of the presentation unveiled more developed research compared to 2014. First of all, in 2014, UDC announced that the panel’s lifetime could be improved by 2 times compared to the RGB method. In IMID 2015, UDC’s announcement changed the figure to 3.3 times increased lifetime.

 

UDC also revealed that the technology can be actualized through printing method, and has the advantage of being able to print 2 rows of pixels at once. UDC announced that this is most suitable when OVJP (Organic Vapor Jet Printing) applies the printing method.

 

A new technology called SPR (Sub-Pixel Rendering) was also announced by UDC in this paper. The 2014 SID paper included a method that did not uses SPR. As shown below in figure 1, 4 subpixels of RGY and B are used per pixel.

 

[Fig. 1], Source: UDC, IMID 2015

During IMID 2015, UDC presented APR technology applied pixel structure. Figure 2 shows 3 subpixels per pixel.

 

[Fig. 2], Source: UDC, IMID 2015

In this case, as the pixels can be arranged as shown in figure 3, smaller number of subpixels can be used.

 

[Fig. 3], Source: UDC, IMID 2015

UDC announced that because APR technology allows the number of subpixels per pixel to be reduced to 3 or less, the number of data lines and TFT per pixel can also be reduced together.

 

UDC explained that this technology can be applied regardless of the display area or resolution, and will be able to be applied to different types of panels.

 

[Analyst Column] Korean Display Industry Is On Descent

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Dr Choong Hoon Yi, UBI Research Chief Analyst, ubiyi@ubiresearch.co.kr

 

The analysis of 2015 2Q results of Samsung Display and LG Display shows clear indication that Korean display industry is on descent.

 

[2015 Q2 Korean Display Total Sales Analysis]

According to the results announcement of the 2 companies, the total of 2015 Q2 sales is approximately US$ 11,000,000,000. Compared to the total sales in 2013 Q2 which was US$ 13,000,000,000, Korean display industry trend is exhibiting clear downward tendency.

0812 graph1

 

2015 Q2 Korean display sales records -4% QoQ, and 8% YoY.

0812 graph2

 

 

The main reason for the decrease in sales is Samsung Display’s deterioration of earnings results. While LG Display’s sales of the past 3 years remain fairly consistent but Samsung Display’s sales is gradually decreasing.

0812 graph3

 

 

 

[2015 Q2 Korean Display Total Business Profit Analysis]

Connecting the high points of the total of 2 companies’ business profit reveal that the business value is worsening as the trend moves downward. This also is much contributed to Samsung Display’s business profit decrease.

0812 graph4

 

 

[Samsung Display and LG Display Sales Analysis]

According to the earnings announcement of both companies, Samsung Display and LG Display recorded sales of approximately US$ 5,500,000,000 and US$ 5,600,000,000 respectively. LG Display is maintaining higher sales results compared to Samsung Display for the past 5 quarters. Each company’s QoQ showed to be -4% (LGD) and -3% (SDC) and YoY to be 12% (LGD) and 5% (SDC). The simultaneous decrease of QoQ sales of both companies demonstrates that the Q3 sales could also fall.

 

0812 graph5

 

0812 graph6

 

 

[Samsung Display and LG Display’s Competitiveness Analysis]

Looking at the profit/sales graph of Samsung Display and LG Display, it is apparent that Samsung Display showed superior competitiveness until 2013 Q3, but since then LG Display averaged higher.

 

 

[Conclusion]

The reason for the downward trend of Korean display industry is analyzed to be the fall of display panel price due to the Chinse display companies’ mass production through aggressive investment. Particularly, in or after 2017 when China’s BOE is estimated to begin Gen10.5 LCD line, LCD panel price will fall even more rapidly. This is forecast to lead Korean LCD industry to suddenly lose competitiveness. For Korean display companies that have immense LCD sales to show positive growth, it is time to expand OLED business that can be differentiated from Chinse display companies.

 

The only solutions for Korean display industry are OLED investment in large scale and conversion of LCD line to OLED line. At the time of BOE’s Gen10.5 line operation, Korean display companies also should respond with Gen6 flexible OLED investment and early establishment of Gen8 OLED line.

[Analyst Column] LG Display Q2 Earnings Analysis and Signification of Flexible OLED Investment

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Dr Choong Hoon Yi, UBI Research Chief Analyst, ubiyi@ubiresearch.co.kr

 

On July 23, LG Display announced its earnings results at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, South Korea. LG Display reported that their Q2 sales recorded approximately US$ 5,700,000,000 with business profit of approximately US$ 420,000,000.

 

Although sales fell by approximately US$ 260,000,000 (-5%) compared to the previous quarter, it was an increase of US$ 620,000,000 (12%) compared to the year before. Business profit showed approximately US$ 210,000,000 decrease (-34%) QoQ, and YoY US$ 280,000,000 increase (206%).

 

0805 graph1

 

LG Display’s sales and business profit of Y/Yo (green line) showed U shape of trend of growth in previous 5 quarters but this quarter recorded a fall. It is analyzed that the growth could slow down from 2H 2015.

 

The drop of the LG display’s Y/Yo growth in this 2Q is much attributed to smartphone market’s slow down and TV market reduction. It is also estimated the panel price reduction due to Chinese display companies’ aggressive investment is reflected.

 

0805 graph2

 

 

For LG Display to stop the degrowth, mass production of products that are differentiated from competition, is urgently needed, away from LCD panel that is LGD’s current major business.

 

On the day, LG Display’s management announced approx. US$ 900,000,000 investment for Gen6 flexible OLED line in order to lead flexible OLED market. The investment location is Gumi factory. Investment location is Gumi factory with the initial investment of 7.5K. It is expected world’s second flexible OLED exclusive line will established following Samsung Display. It is anticipated that up to 15K will be established for this line.

 

Considering last year’s LG Display’s business profit was approx. US$ 1,100,000,000, the US$ 900,000,000 flexible OLED investment is very large. The investment decision must have been very difficult. However, the reasons for LG Display’s drastic flexible OLED exclusive line investment are because companies that produce LTPS-TFT LCD (LGD’s existing main market) is increasing, and because Samsung Display is already monopolizing rigid OLED market and therefore difficult to secure market share.

 

LG Display’s CFO Kim Sang-don explained that flexible OLED Gen6 line investment was decided at the board of directors meeting on July 22, and was made official on the morning of July 23. Kim added that the decision was reached so that LG Display can lead the OLED business in terms of technology and to occupy initial market in foldable and rollable technologies. He also commented the monthly capa. of the flexible OLED line will be 7.5K.

 

Regarding large area OLED panel, it was emphasized that this year’s panel production target remains to be 600,000 units and 1,500,000 units next year, same as the ones announced during the Q1 earnings results presentation. It was also revealed that 34K, approximately 9K higher than current capa., will be in operation in 2016. Addressing the concern of oversupply of next year’s 1,500,000 units while the OLD TV market is still small, LG Display suggested the solution of increasing the demand by active promotion from the second half of this year.

 

 

 

Despite the fall of mid to large size panels’ sales price, from the enlargement of sets and AIT technology applied sales performance, the business profit of approximately US$ 4,000 million was recorded. This is a 34% decrease compared to the previous quarter but a 199% increase from the same period in 2014. LG Display estimates that the sales will increase in the third quarter due to seasonal factors and panel’s enlargement trend.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 Release, What is Different This Time?

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On 20 July, Samsung Electronics announced the launch of the Galaxy Tab S2 (8.0inch, 9.7inch), with the thinnest and lightest metal frame of its size on the market.

 

Galaxy Tab S2 has thickness of 5.6mm and weight of 265g and 389g for 8.0inch and 9.7inch tablets respectively. Samsung Elec. applied Super AMOLED Display to these new releases with QXGA resolution.

 

In comparison with the previous Galaxy Tab S, the resolution was reduced from 2560×1600 to 2048×1536. The battery capacity was also lowered to 4,000mAh (8.0inch) and 5,870mAh (9.7inch), decreases of approximately 18% and 26% from existing models. However, with the reduced thickness and weight, mobility was improved, and through the lowered energy consumption the usage efficacy increased.

 

JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Elec. explained that the Galaxy Tab S2 is not only the “thinnest and lightest tablet of its size ever,” but that “it also gives users quick, easy access to a wealth of superior viewing and productivity features”.

 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will come in a variety of connectivity, storage and size options: 9.7-inch and 8.0-inch versions with Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi and LTE, available in 32 or 64GB with MicroSD up to 128GB. It will be available in global markets, starting from August, 2015.

 

Source: UBI Research

Source: UBI Research