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OLED TV is the competitive TV covering the whole areas such as the design and the sound quality as well as the image quality.

“While the existing OLED TV is focused on the image quality, the current OLED TV is not only picture quality but also covering any areas including the design and the sound quality.”

In the keynote address for the workshop of ‘the 12th Display National R&D Projects’ held on 5 July in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do, Soo-young, Yoon, a director of LG Display, introduced the advantages of OLED TV such as superior image quality, design freedom, and sound quality improvement including the capacity of the light and shade, and color implementation.

He said, “It is unlike LCD, OLED is the self-emitting, and be able to be controlled by a pixel unit, so that it is capable of expressing the perfect black, and implementing the unlimited contrast range. Therefore, OLED is the best display to express the stars or a bright moon in the darkness.” And also, he emphasized that “OLED TV is free to express the middle gradation through the precise color expressiveness, so that it is able to realize the vivid color as realistic.”

 

Subsequently, he introduced the wallpaper and CSO (crystal sound OLED) which attracted lots of attention in last CES 2017, “If the existing OLED TV is an image quality-oriented, the current OLED TV goes through any areas such as the design, sound quality but also the image quality. Especially, the embedded speaker methods are able to realize the high level of immersion, by agreeing the position of the mouth and the sound along with the effect of design advancement.”

A director, Soo-young, Yoon, also introduced the transparent flexible OLED which can implements the radius of curvature 80R, 40% penetration ratio, and 77-inch UHD, that developed for the commercialization, and mentioned that the transparent and flexible display will be a future display. He also said that they are on-going to develop the devices and materials for solution process, and it needs to be discovered the new application and new form factor.

Finally, he mentioned the P10 factory at Paju, “We expect to ultimately produce new OLED TV at P10 factory which plans to be completed by the end of this year through thorough preparation.”

OLED TV, fiercely chasing SUHD TV Price

OLED TV price is being fallen continuously, and is fiercely chasing SUHD TV price. In Amazon (www.amazon.com), the price of 65inch 4k UHD OLED TV (OLED65B6), LG Electronic model of March 2016, was US$ 3,147 based on December 2016, and US$ 1,600 appeared to be dropped compared to US$ 4,747, price of July 2016. The price of 55inch 4k UHD OLED TV (OLED5B6) was US$ 2,097, and US$ 800 was fallen compared to US$ 2,897, the price of July 2016.

SUHD TV price of Samsung Electronics which was similar premium product series was US$ 1,648 in 65inch (UN65KS8000), and differences of US$1,499 turned up compared to same size UHD OLED TV of LG Electronics. Specially, US$ 966 difference appeared compared to same-size UHD OLED TV of LG Electronics as US$ 1,131 of 55inch (UN55KS8000), and the gap could been seen as being narrowed to below US$ 1,000.

<Price comparison of LG Electronics, LG Electronics 65inch, 55inch TV, Source: UBI Research>

If comparing price difference between UHD OLED TV based on 2016 65inch model and SUHD TV, about US$ price differences come out based on July 2016, a fact appeared such like OLED TV price was quickly narrowing price difference with SUHD TV price in 55inch and 65inch as well as difference of about US$ 1,500 based on December 2016.

On the other hand, LG Display is expected to really operate mass production line of E4 phase2 26K Gen8 OLED having been invested in 2016 from the 2nd quarter, and thus an estimation is made such like OLED TV price will be dropped further.

Besides, participating companies of OLED TV camp in CES 2017 were increased remarkably, and OLED TV market is being activated in trend because large manufacturer like Sony joined with several European companies especially, and thus it is expected that price drop of OLED TV will occupy advantageous position in competitions with LCD TV in premium TV market.

[CES2017] LG Display, Successful Development of a Talking Display First in the World

LG Display completed the dream having been hoped from flat display, and opened the product firstly in private booth of CES2017.

In the time when LCD was begun to be settled as a representative runner of flat display, a lot of display engineers hoped to the display to which speakers were attached. However, the speaker and display could not be unified because speaker could affect influences to liquid crystal movement.

Nonetheless, such limitations of LCD were solved through OLED. Convergence which unifies display and speaker becomes to be completed by LG Display ultimately.

LG Display made the sound come out directly by attaching small-size speakers to panel backside. If using this type, the feeling of having the sound of actor when talking could be gotten.

As the panel is vibrated along with the speaker movement, small beads having been put on the panel were moved in a wave according to sound effects. If expressing reversely, the sound could be seen.
The talking Display to which anyone did not succeed becomes to be realized finally. The name of this Display is “Crystal Sound OLED.”

President Yeo Sang-deok having led Crystal Sound OLED development said a worry that impact to credibility on OLED panel would occur in the first developmental stage, but revealed a pride in that successful product development was made first in the world eventually. President Yeo did not hide joy in making best work in his life as top head of LG Display which led OLED TV development.

From this year, the position of President Yeo was changed to CMO from head of OLED business. He seems to lead OLED future of LG Display yet. President Yeo Sang-deok lighted up his ambition such like he would do his best to make OLED ecosystem more healthily and firmly as his future roles. President Yeo took charge of Chairperson of The Korean Information Display Association (KDIS) from 2017. Based on his various experiences of LCD, OLED development, it is expected that he will be a leader who puts together industry, academia, and research.

[CES2017] LG Electronics Press Conference and Exhibition Trend

LG Electronics having a virtual monopoly on the OLED TV market has mentioned at the CES2017 press conference that the new OLED TV in 2017 is “LG Signature OLED TV W”. The”W” means “Wallpaper TV”.

OLED TV W, which LG Electronics will sell this year, is only 2.57mm thin-unlike LCD TV, there is no back light. In recent years, LCD TVs use direct backlights to increase brightness, and these products are rather thicker.

In order to emphasize that OLED TV W is thin and relatively light enough to be attached on the wall. LG Electronics displays OLED TV W on the glass. The Dolby speakers are installed separately under TV.

LG Electronics’ exhibition hall is filled with more and more OLED TVs, and about 30% of the exhibition room is taken for OLED TVs.

The OLED TV domes such as IFA2016 occupied the last space of the exhibition hall and there was a room where the excellent image quality of OLED TV integrated with HDR technology was introduced.

In the center of the exhibition room, OLED TV W which was introduced at the press conference is being displayed.

As LG Electronics’ OLED TV shown at CES2017 was similar to that of IFA2016 last year, no technical or design-wise novelty was found.

[CES2017] The load of the TVs : Return of the king

Sony was just kept premium TV market because they were left behind by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in middle-price TV market and not released new products in low-price market also, although they have been dominated the TV market until 10 years ago. But, Sony has splendidly returned with OLED TV at CES2017.

TV business was the face of Sony due to having the strongest aspects in the TV market, they always were located at the main showroom as the center during CES and IFA. However, the TV business has been downsized due to years of deficits on it and the camera replaced the TV spot in CES2016 and IFA2016 last year. Many attendees at the show felt that Sony was into the process of falling out of the TV business and thought it would turn into a camera company.

Sony, however, declared that they will be a king once again in the TV market at CES2017. TV defeated the camera and took the middle of the entrance of the exhibition hall again. But this TV is not an LCD that Sony has ever sold, but an OLED TV.

Sony has unveiled its BRAVIA OLED adapted a 4K HDR process X1 on 77-inch and 65-inch Crystal Sound OLED panels which is directly developed by Sony and produced by LG Display.

There was different from the OLED TV seen so far. In short, it’s “WOW”. It can be described as the most beautiful and elegant TV in the world. It was not comparable to the existing BRAVIA LCD TV displayed next to it. That LCD TV has the highest image quality among LCD TVs by using Quantum dot technology. Nevertheless, these LCD TVs have fallen into low grades unlike those of newly introduced OLED TVs.

A Sony representative of the exhibition said that the points to decide the OLED TV business was due to the meeting with Sony’s desire for image quality, and that mass production has not been decided yet but it will be after the second quarter of this year.

So far, the OLED TV market has been dominated by LG Electronics under leading, but with the attending of Sony, the OLED TV market is expected to grow even further.

The premium TV market will be led by LG Electronics and Sony focused by OLED TVs.

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

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

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.

Kopin, entering OLED microdisplay market for mobile VR and AR with new technology and business model

Kopin, mobile VR and AR wearable technology development company, announced on December 21(local time) that they will enter OLED microdisplay market for mobile VR and AR application. This company’s very first OLED microdisplay is expected to be tested during CES 2017 held next month.

Kopin mentioned they developed a new silicon backplane structure which can implement OLED-on-silicon microdisplay without restrictions of size, weight, and power of the direct view products. The characteristic of this microdisplay is the ultra-high resolution, low power, and small form factor which provides excellent user experience in mobile and wearable system.

Kopin mentioned OLED-on-silicon microdisplay consists of two main factors, silicon backplane and OLED release layer. What is special of Kopin’s business model is that, where the expert knowledge is in Kopin, both of the two manufacturing operations are the very first full fab-less OLED microdisplay business model which is outsourced in private foundry. The main reason that Kopin got involved in this fab-less is that they expect the demand of OLED microdisplay will largely increase along with VR and AR, MR market, and also they think utilizing investments from other companies seems to be the best way to be prepared in the market because there is burden in capital investments in OLED foundry.

Kopin’s CEO, as well as the founder, Dr. John C.C. Fan said “Kopin is one of the biggest and successful suppliers of microdisplay system where more than 30 million of AMLCD and LCOS products are shipped”, and “by adding OLED microdisplay and module in product portfolio, Kopin provide various display technology and optics technology where customers evaluate various designs, and based on that, we were able to manufacture the product where the application is optimized.”

Lastly, Dr. Fan said “Kopin’s OLED microdisplay is specially manufactured so that the improved technology can be utilized well that are being improved in virtual and reinforcement, mixed reality applications field”, and mentioned “Kopin’s target is to occupy a portion where they can grow in the OLED microdisplay market”. Along with competing companies such as eMagin and Sony, what new type of OLED microdisplay panel will Kopin introduce is expected attract attention in CES 2017.

<Kopin’s world’s smallest smart glass display publicized in January 2016, businesswire.com>

BY HYUNJUN JANG, HANA OH

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

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

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

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

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

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