One of the major problems with OLED materials is that they are very sensitive to oxygen and moisture. This means that OLEDs need to be protected, and the encapsulation of OLED panels is one of the major obstacles towards efficient mass production of flexible OLED panels.

Interested in OLED encapsulation and want to learn more about the different technologies that aim to enable the next-generation flexible display? Read our new article here.

Towards the end of 2014 we reported that China's Everdisplay (EDO) started mass producing 5" 720p AMOLED displays with a capacity of 600,000 panels per month. EDO has since discussed its roadmap several times, and today they updated it again with some new information.

We already know that EDO is developing new 5.5" and 6" AMOLEDs. While we knew the company is developing a circular display, EDO now reveals they plan to release a 1.4" panel - and not a 1.35" as previously reported - which probably means that EDO is the producer of the 1.4" 400x400 panel used in Huawei's upcoming Watch.

According to reports, Samsung is seeing better-then-expected demand for the Galaxy S6 Edge - and SDC will not be able to produce enough flexible OLEDs. Earlier this month I speculated that SDC may try to start producing at its new 6.5-Gen A3 flexible OLED fab sooner then planned - and today Bloomberg reports that this is indeed the case.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung already started to produce flexible OLEDs at the A3 fab - which was expected to enter production in June.

While we confirmed Apple's Watch uses a flexible AMOLED display back in September 2014, now we are set to get some more confirmations as Apple starts shipping their first wearable device. iFixit posted a tear-down of the Watch, in which they confirm it is an AMOLED panel.

iFixit also finally details the Watch display resolution: the small editions use a 38mm display (272x340, 290 PPI) while the larger Watches use a 42 mm panel (312x390, 302 PPI). Those are flexible OLED panels produced by LG Display.

Towards the end of 2014 it was reported that Kaneka developed a new OLED panel that achieves a lifetime of 50,000 hours, and the company started producing such panels shortly after. It turns out that Kaneka demonstrated the new panels at the Euroluce 2015 tradeshow in Europe.

Kaneka had several panels on display - in three different sizes (80x80 mm, 100x100 mm and 143x23 mm) and five different colors (white, amber, blue and green). All panels are 1.05 mm thick and feature 50,000 hours of lifetime.

Samsung just posted a new flyer calling the global developer community to get an early access to the software development kit of the company's next-gen Gear device. From the invitation, it's pretty clear the new device will be round:

Samsung's upcoming Gear device will be a smart watch - and will be Samsung's 6th generation Gear (which is pretty amazing considering that the company's first-gen Gear was released less than two years ago).

Yesterday we reported that Amazon.com lowered the price of LG's 2014 65" 4K OLED TVs to $8,999 (down from $9,999) - and today the online retailer reduced the price by another $1,000 - so the 65EC9700 is now offered for $7,999.

The price of LG's 2015 65" 4K model (the 65EG9600) is still $8,999 - which at least makes sense because previously the 2014 and the 2015 models were offered at the same price. The 2015 model is still not shipping - Amazon says it will ship within 4-6 weeks.

Yesterday we posted news from Korea claiming that there is lower-then expected demand for OLED TVs, and that LGD is suffering from low UHD OLED TV yields and had to lower their production target for 2015 to 500,000 TVs (down from 600,000).

LGD reported their financial results, and during the conference call the company's Investor Relations chief clearly said that the company still aims to produce 600,000 OLED TVs in 2015. They may lower the number if they see greater demand for 65" and 77" TVs and decide to change their size mix towards more large panels. Regarding the UHD OLED yields, he says that "it is in line with our basic assumption and our track record".

Yesterday we quoted a report from Korea Times claiming that LG Electronics' OLED TV sales are lower than expected. Today another Korean publication (ETNews) runs the same story with some more details.

According to ETNews, LG Display reduced its OLED TV panel 2015 production projection to 500,000 units (down from 600,000). The main reason is that LG is seeing sluggish sales of Full-HD OLED TVs, as it faces a tough battle from Quantum-Dots enhanced LCDs.

Update: LG lowered the price of the 65EC9700 again to $7,999!

Amazon.com now offers LG's 65" 4K OLED TVs for $8,999 - down from $9,999. This actually matches the price of LG's 2015 65" 4K model (the 65EG9600). The 2015 model is still not shipping - Amazon says it will ship within 4-6 weeks.

LG's 65EC9700 is a UHD (4K, 3840x2160) 65" curved OLED TV, that supports LG's High Dynamic Range (HDR) algorithm, the True 4K Engine Pro (to upscale SD, HD and FHD content to 4K) and support of H.264 and HEVC H.265 formats (30p and 60p). The TV also supports automatic color temperature control for individual pixels via LG's Color Refiner.