OLED is an emerging display technology that is fast becoming the mainstream display technology in many markets, as OLED enables display panels that offer the best image quality and free design as they can be made flexible and transparent. The Samsung OLED displays are considered to be the best in the industry and the Korean company is the clear lead in AMOLED production for mobile devices.

SDC 5.7'' FHD rollable OLED at SID 2016

Over the pay years Samsung invested billions of dollars in OLED research and production facilities as the company sees OLEDs fast replacing LCD displays in all mobile applications.

Samsung AMOLED displays

Samsung is currently producing over 300 million AMOLED displays in a year, used mostly in smartphones - such as Samsung's own Galaxy S7 (and S7 edge ) - but also in smartphones from Gionee, Meizu, Acer, HP, Vivo, Microsoft, Lenovo, ZTE, Hisense, Konka and others. Samsung also produces large mobile OLEDs for tablets, laptops and monitors.

In August 2013 Samsung launched the company's first OLED TV, the KN55S9C, which used a curved 55" OLED panel. The TV was priced at around $8999 in the US and Korea, but is no longer in production, and was never in real mass production. In 2022, Samsung returned to OLED TV production, and is now offering QD-OLED panels and its first such TV is the S95B.

Samsung S95B photo

Samsung flexible OLED displays

Following its initial flexible OLED production launch in 2013, and the huge success of its edge-type phones, Samsung is currently producing around 9 million flexible OLEDs each month to satisfy demand for the Galaxy S7 edge and its other flexible OLED products. Samsung has reportedly been chosen to supply 100 million flexible OLED panels to Apple's future iPhones.

Future Samsung OLED devices

Samsung is developing several next generation display technologies based on OLEDs. Samsung has been developing a foldable OLED device for a long time - which may dramatically change the mobile device market as it could enable smartphone to turn into tablets or phones that can be folded into smaller devices.

Samsung is also developing transparent OLEDs (see the company's 55" FHD transparent and mirror-type OLEDs here) for retail application, and also readies next generation displays for the automotive industry.

Several years ago Samsung released the following video, showing a concept transparent flexible AMOLED tablet device. It will be years before Samsung can commercialize such a display, but it's nice to see what the future holds:

Further reading

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The latest Samsung OLED news:

Omdia sees a rebound in the display production equipment market

Market research firm Omdia says that display production equipment sales will rebound in 2024 and reach $7.7 billion (154% over 2023), and will grow slowly in the near future, mainly driven by 8.6-Gen OLED production lines (used to make IT displays).

Omdia says that the new 8.6-Gen OLED fab require novel technologies, which results in high equipment costs. In 2024, 32% of all spending ($2.4 billion) will be for Samsung's A6 line, a large investment for a 15,000 monthly subtrates fab. BOE's investment in its upcoming B16 flexible 8.6-Gen line will be even higher - by 18% due to the backplane choice (LTPO over Samsung's oxide-TFT A6).

Read the full story Posted: Feb 06,2024

Samsung Electronics signs a 5-year WOLED supply agreement with LG Display

In July 2023, Samsung Electronics officially launched the 83" 83S90C, the company's first TV to use LG's WOLED panels, following several years of negotiations and hesitation by the Korean rivals. Samsung then continued to launch more WOLED TVs, but did not made large orders, as it mainly uses QD-OLED panels from SDC for its high-end TVs.

Samsung S90D OLED TV photo

According to a new report, Samsung Electronics has signed a five-year WOLED supply agreement with LG Display. This is an interesting development that may have implications for Samsung Display's QD-OLED production plans. We do not have more details, it will be interesting to learn what kind of volumes Samsung committed to. 

Read the full story Posted: Feb 03,2024

Report says Apple reduced its OLED iPad Pro orders by 20-30% due to low expected demand

Earlier this month we reported that Samsung Display and LG Display have started to produce AMOLED displays for Apple's future iPads, to be announced later this year. Earlier expectations were for Apple to order a total of 10 million iPad AMOLED displays in 2024 from both LGD and SDC, with LGD getting around 60% of the orders. 

 

Apple iPad (8th-Gen)

According to a new report, Apple has decided to cut its order size by around 20-30%. Apple will be launching two OLED iPad Pro devices: 11" and 13", and the reduction in orders is for the 13" device, for which LGD is the exclusive supplier, which is why only LGD is effected by the new order cut.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 28,2024

Samsung and LG begin producing 11" and 13" tandem LTPO AMOLED displays for Apple's iPads

Reports from Korea suggest that Samsung Display and LG Display are starting to produce AMOLED displays for Apple's future iPads, to be announced later this year. Samsung is set to produce 11" LTPO AMOLED displays, while LG Display is producing displays for the 13" model (but LGD will also produce 11" AMOLEDs in the future for Apple). 

Apple iPad (8th-Gen)

The Elec says that both Korean makers developer 11" and 13" displays, but for some unknown reason only LGD will produce the 13" displays. This could change in the future, of course. One reason could be that LG Display has more experience with tandem OLED architectures (developed originally by LGD years ago for automotive OLEDs).

Read the full story Posted: Jan 18,2024

Samsung unveils its 2024 OLED TV lineup

Samsung Electronics announced its 2024 OLED TV lineup, with 3 series. The company's flagship OLED TV for 2024, the S95D, offers 55-, 65-, or 77-inch 4K 144hz QD-OLED panels, offering high brightness (up to 3000 nits peak brightness), a new anti-glare coating to minimize reflections, Tizen 8.0 OS, and an external One Connect box for a sleek design. The S95D offers AI-Enhanced color accuracy - validated by Pantone.

Samsung S95D photo

Samsung also announced two more series - S90D and S85D. Interestingly, it did not detail whether these TVs use QD-OLED (produced by SDC) or WOLED panels (produced by LGD) - or a mix as it did last year within the same series. 

Read the full story Posted: Jan 11,2024

Samsung Display demonstrates its latest rollable and foldable automotive OLED panels

Samsung Display is showing its latest rollable automotive OLED panel, at CES 2024. The company says that this display, still at a prototype-stage, incorporates new technologies that enables it to be 30% thinner compared to SDC's previous rollable OLEDs.

Samsung is showing a wide of automotive OLEDs, including a display that is both rollable and foldable, check out the video above. There's also the round 9.4-inch AMOLED that will be used in the upcoming 2025 Mini Cooper.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 11,2024

DSCC: the OLED materials market to grow from $1.7 billion in 2023 to $2.7 billion in 2027

DSCC estimates that the market for OLED evaporation materials (i.e. OLED stack materials) will reach $1.7 billion in 2023, and will grow to $2.7 billion in 2027 (a 11% CAGR from 2023). If UDC will succeed to commercially introduce a blue phosphorescence material, revenues can even be much higher.

OLED materials used in TV applications (and other large-area applications) will grow from $305 million in 2023, to $492 million in 2027, a 13% CAGR. DSCC also sees very fast growth in material used to produce tandem-structure IT displays, which will grow at a 79% CAGR to reach $443 million in 2027.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 10,2024

Demand for Samsung's rigid smartphone AMOLED panel is on the increase in China

According to reports in China, strong demand for flexible AMOLED panels for high-end smartphones, have resulted in an increase of panel price. This has caused smartphone makers to adopt more rigid AMOLED panels in their budget smartphones.

Vivo S18 photo

The report suggests that Samsung Display is especially enjoying an increase in sales of its rigid AMOLED panels to smartphone makers in China - mainly OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi. These smartphone makers are replacing LCD displays with Samsung's rigid AMOLEDs - as the price difference is currently quite small.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 07,2024

Samsung announces its 2024 QD-OLED gaming monitor range

Samsung Electronics announced their upcoming 2024 QD-OLED gaming monitor range. It starts with the flagship Odyssey G9 (G95SD) gaming monitor that offers a curved 49-inch 32:9 5120x1440 240Hz QD-OLED panel. 

The other two monitors offer a flat panel. The Odyssey G6 is a 27-inch 1440p monitor that offers very fast 360Hz refresh rate, while the Odyssey G8 (model G80SD) is a larger monitor, with a 32" 240Hz QD-OLED panel.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 03,2024

Samsung : SDC to focus on OLED microdisplays while SSI will handle its Micro-LED development

In 2022, Samsung Display confirmed it is developing OLED microdisplays, and the company has since stepped up its efforts to bring OLED microdisplay to the market. The company is also developing microLED microdisplays.

It is now reported in Korea that Samsung Electronics decided that from now on, Samsung Display will handle all OLED microdisplay projects, while Samsung Semiconductor (SSI, or specifically, the Compound Semiconductor Solutions team) will handle all microLED microdisplay development.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 24,2023