February 2012

Back in October 2011 Samsung Electronics said that it plans to launch products with flexible OLED panels next year, probably starting with mobile phones, then followed by tablets and other portable devices. Today an assistant president at SMD confirms this, and says that flexible OLED panels will be produced in 2012.

Those OLEDs will be plastic based, but probably not really bendable. SMD's AP says that the flexibility will be determined not by the OLED itself but the underlying substrate. Such a "flexible" but non-bendable plastic based OLED will have the advantage of being thin and shatterproof.

AU Optronics's president Paul Peng says that OLED products "will be a new battlefield for display makers". AUO plans to introduce small-size OLED products in 2Q 2012, and the company is also working on OLED TVs. AUO will show OLED TV panels larger than 32" (AUO already unveiled an Oxide-TFT 32" OLED TV panel in November 2011).

AUO is cooperating with Japan-based firms to develop new materials and applications for OLED panels. Earlier this month AUO announced a strategic alliance with Idemitsu Kosan on OLED materials and technology.

Sony announced that as of February 26 they shipped over 1.2 million PS Vita consoles. The Vita was launched worldwide just a few days ago (up until then it was available in Japan, where sales were a bit disappointing at first). The Vita costs $249 for the Wi-Fi model and $299 for the 3G model.

The Vita features a 5" touch Samsung-Made OLED display (960x544), a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and a quad-core PowerVR (SGX543MP4+) GPU (Sony says that it is as powerful as a PS3), Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and 3G (AT&T, optional). Gaming controls include dual analog sticks, motion controls and a multi-touch pad on the rear side.

Universal Display reported their financial results for Q4 2011. The company had $18.7 million in revenue (up 73% from Q4 2010's $10.8 million), with net income of $5.7 million. In Q4 material sales reached $10.8 million and royalties were $5.4 million. For the whole of 2011, UDC reports $61.3 million in revenue (up 101% over 2010's $30.5 million) and $3.2 million in net income. The company was cash flow positive in 2011 - with $16.4 million from operation activities and they have $346 million in cash.

Our friends from PortableGear.nl are at MWC 2012, and they posted three interesting videos comparing AMOLED displays to LCD ones. Their conclusion is that it's getting harder and harder to distinguish between all those technologies, as all theses screens are superb. The first video compares the Super AMOLED HD on the Galaxy Note with the True HD IPS on the LG Optimus 4X HD:

Verizon announced that it's going to launch the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE on March 1st - for $499.99 with a contract. Amazon.com offers the tablet unlocked for $650, but without LTE (only 3G/Wi-Fi). The Galaxy Tab 7.7" got some great reviews - Engadget says it's the best 7" tablet and praises the "stunning and breathtaking" Super AMOLED Plus display.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the world's first tablet with an OLED display, a 7.7" Super AMOLED Plus panel, offering 1280x800 resolution. Other specs include Android v3.2, Dual-core 1.4 Ghz processor, HSPA+ radio (LTE in some models), 16GB to 64GB internal storage and a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, GPS and two cameras (3MP and 2MP).

Microsoft research has unveiled a new research project that enables a 3D interactive desktop using a Samsung-made transparent OLED and a Kinect camera. The idea is that the user types on a keyboard that sits behind the monitor, and he can also manipulate 3D objects using his hands. The system also uses head tracking (to change the 3D perspective):

This isn't the first time Microsoft is using a transparent OLED in their research. Back in June 2010 Microsoft revealed a concept setup that uses a camera beneath a transparent OLED to create gesture-based interaction.

Remember Toshiba's 7.7" tablet with a 1280x800 Super AMOLED Plus display? It was shown first at CES 2012, and now Toshiba is showing it again at MWC 2012. Toshiba is naming it the AT270, and reveals that it has a 1.5Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU.

Toshiba hasn't officially announced this tablet yet, so we're still waiting for more technical details and of course a release date and price.

Philips released a new roadmap for their OLED lighting products. The company decided to split its OLED offering into two families - one for decorative lighting and one for performance lighting. The decorative panels are normally reflective in the off state, and Philips will offer transparent ones as soon as next year. Color tunable and transparent panels will arrive in 2018. And Philips predicts that by then it'll be able to offer 1x1 meter panels! It will sure be interested to see those large, flexible, light emitting panels...

Decorative lighting roadmap

The downside of the decorative panels is the efficiency: In 2015 these panels will offer only 15 lm/W (that's only marginally better than an incandescent lamp). By 2018, those large flexible panels will offer 35 lm/W - which is still very low (Fluorescent lamps today offer 70-100 lm/W).

There's a new European collaboration project that aims to help the organic and large area electronics industry. The COLAE (Commercializing Organic and Large Area Electronics) project is a pan-European initiative with 18 partners from 12 countries. The project partners will jointly develop technology demonstrators and provide services such as training events, access to pilot lines and more. Several of these partners have a range of OLED (both lighting and displays) pilot facilities that can now be accessed by European companies for free.

CPI Printed Electronics center

Partners include the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (which is the project coordinator), the Fraunhofer Institute, CSEM and UK's CPI center which will provide access for its OLED lighting pilot line facilities.