Market research company IHS says that the Galaxy S6 Edge costs about $290 to build (that's the 64GB model sold on Verizon) - and the flexible curved super AMOLED display (5.1" 2560x1440, 577 PPI) costs $85. Just for comparison, the GS5 BOM was estimated at $256 (and the regular GS6 is probably somewhere in between).

Other expensive parts include the application chip ($29.5), the 3GB of DDR4 memory ($27) and the 64GB flash memory ($25).

In April 2014 BMW said that the future lighting technology for their automobiles will be OLED, and that BMW expects to start selling cars with OLED lighting within 3 years. The respected Car and Driver publication now says that the 2016 M2 car will be the first one to adopt those OLED tail lights.

I'm actually a bit skeptical on that - it seems too soon for BMW to release OLEDs in a car, and even according to BMW, they estimated it won't happen before 2017. But maybe Car and Driver knows more than they can reveal, it'll sure be a nice surprise to see the first ever OLED lighting car next year.

Corning and OLEDWorks signed a collaborative agreement to develop flexible and conformable OLED lighting solutions using Corning's flexible Willow Glass as an integrated substrate and barrier.

Corning's Willow Glass will not just enable the panels to be flexible - the glass also integrates Corning's light extraction technology that will (according to OLEDWorks) enable them to double the light output from the panels.

According to our information Taiwan's AU Optronics started to mass produce 5.46" Full-HD AMOLED panels, aimed for smartphone applications. AUO is already producing 1.63", 4.3" and 5" AMOLED displays. AUO is also developing a 1.4" circular AMOLED display.

AUO 5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED prototype

It's great to see AU Optronics stepping up its AMOLED involvement, even though the company's current production capacity at its AFPD Gen-4.5 LTPS fab in Singapore is quite limited.

Last month Samsung Electronics reported high demand from mobile carriers for their Galaxy S6 and its curved-display variant the Galaxy S6 Edge, and reports suggested Samsung may want to increase the GS6 Edge output. We speculated that this won't be as easy as it sounds as Samsung Display's flexible AMOLED capacity may be enough.

Today Reuters reports that Samsung expects record shipments for the GS6 smartphones, and it will struggle to meet demand for the S6 Edge variant, due to production constraints. Analysts estimate that demand for the GS6 Edge will exceed supply throughout 2015.

Samsung is now offering a temporary $100 discount to its Tab S Super AMOLED tablets (Wi-Fi models). The 8.4 ones are now available for $299 while the 10.5 version costs $399. The deal only lasts till tomorrow (Apr 11) so hurry up if you like this price.

It may be that Samsung is preparing to release newer Tab S models, so they may be wishing to clear their inventory. A few months ago we heard rumors that Samsung is planning a large (12.2") AMOLED tablet.

Samsung filed a new patent application for an interested device - a smartphone that can be bent to become a bracelet. It uses a flexible OLED over interlocking segments which allow the whole device to fit on a person's wrist.

I'm not sure what constitutes a novel design here (after all such a segmented design is used in regular watches) - but it'll sure be nice to see such a device from Samsung in the future...

Researchers at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) developed new ultra-thin OLED electrode material as an alternative to ITO that can achieve a curve radius of 0.1 mm. The new electrodes are made from silver nanowires and colorless polyimide, fused together.

The researchers say this electrode can survive being folded 100,000 times. It reaches 90% transmittance, with a sheet of 8 ohm/sq. Surface roughness is 0.8 nm, similar to regular smartphone glass substrates.

Aixtron has acquired US-based thin-film encapsulation (TFE) developer PlasmaSi for $16 million. Aixtron will combine the encapsulation technology with its OVPD OLED deposition equipment. Aixtron will also integrate PlasmaSi’s thin-film encapsulation process into its existing OLED cluster for customer demonstration purposes.

Aixtron OVPD R&D Demo Cluster

PlasmaSi developed organic thin-film deposition technology based on very low temperature silicon nitride Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD). The technology can also be used to deposit large-area OLED lighting panels and flexible Integrated Circuits.

Printed electronics is based on the combination of new materials and large area, high volume deposition and patterning techniques. These kinds of materials and processes can yield printed resistors, condensers, transistors and many other electronic components. This is growing market with a huge potential for many applications.

Interested in Printed Electronics and want to understand how it relates to OLEDs? Read our new article here.