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[iMiD 2017] JOLED announces printing-type OLED development trend and future road map

At the ‘IMID 2017 Business Forum’ held in COEX, Seoul from 18th to 19th, Toshiaki Arai, chief technologist of JOLED announced JOLED’s printing technology and future road map.

<JOLED’s Toshiaki Arai chief technologist>

Toshiaki Arai, chief technologist stated that a stable jetting technology at 220 ppi level has been currently secured; high resolution OLED with more than 300 ppi has been developed at Gen 8.5 but there are some issues such as jetting accuracy and stability.

Toshiaki Arai introduced TG-TAOS (top gate-transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors) TFT, which will contribute to saving the unit cost of OLED with excellent performance at low price.

He also announced the future strategy of JOLED, stressing that, instead of small and large OLED dominated by South Korean companies, the middle-sized OLED for tablet and monitor with more than 200 ppi. Joled is the only OLED panel maker that unveiled its 21.6 inch 4K RGB OLED in 2017, using printing process, and has pilot launched.

<JOLED’s 21.6 inch 4K OLED in application of printing method>

On the other hand, according to the Nihon Keizai newspaper in Japan, JOLED is reported to have invested 100 billion yen in mass production of printing-type OLED. In addition, Toshiaki Arai stated that the OLED test samples manufactured by printing process have been provided since this April and the mass production will realize in the second half of 2018.

 

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

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, Spurs on OLED for Notebook and Tablet

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.