A few days ago Turkish-based TV maker Vestel demonstrated its first OLED TVs at the IFA 2016 trade show. This is a 65" 4K HDR TV (with panels provided by LG Display).
Vestel did not yet reveal the model number or any pricing details or release date. The video above shows Vestel's booth and those new OLED TVs.
In June 2015, Merck began to construct a new 30 Million Euro OLED materials production plant in Darmstadt, Germany. Merck announced that the new production plant is now operational, and it provides a fivefold increase in the company's OLED materials production capacity.
Merck aims to become one of the leading suppliers of OLED materials by 2018. The company believes that OLED has the potential to become the technology of the future for displays and lighting.
Yesterday Apple announced two new devices - the iPhone 7 (and 7 Plus) and the new Watch Series 2. The new Watch is Apple's 2nd-Generation smartwatch that has several improvements over the first generation - including a built-in GPS, waterproofing and better hardware.
We're mostly interested in the display, of course, and the Watch 2 display features the same size and resolution as the first generation - either 272x340 38mm or 312x390 42mm. The main improvement in the new display is that it is twice as bright at 1,000 nits (the original Watch's display had 450 nits).
Today we published new versions of our market reports - that cover the transparent, automotive, microdisplay, VR/AR and flexible OLED markets. OLED-Info provides comprehensive niche OLED market reports, and our reports cover everything you need to know about the niche market, and can be useful if you want to understand how the OLED industry works and what this technology can provide for your own industry. The reports are now updated to September 2016.
The Flexible OLED Market Report:
The report package provides a good introduction to the flexible OLED market - present and future. It details both flexible displays and lighting technologies. Read more here!
UK's SmartKem, a developer of high-performance organic backplanes for flexible displays, has secured a €1.8 million EU grant to support the industrialisation and technology transfer of its semiconductor platform to display makers in Asia.
The 2-year project (which will total 2.65 million Euro, with a 850,000 Euro contribution from SmartKem itself) is called FLEXTRANS - and it will accelerate the adoption of organic semiconductors as a universal backplane platform for the mass manufacture of flexible and curved OLED and LCD displays. The project will focus on the industrialisation and transfer of the OTFT platform over large area plastic substrates using standard slit coat processing, while maintaining electrical and physical uniformity and quality of transistor performance.
Turkish-based TV makers Vestel and Arçelik both demonstrated OLED TVs at the IFA 2016 trade show. These two OLED TVs use 65" 4K HDR panels, made by LG Display of course.
Vestel OLED TV at IFA 2016
Vestel is Europe's largest TV makers, and both companies will also offer these new TVs for OEMs. The two companies did not reveal any actual release plans or model numbers for these new TVs.
Kwon Bong-seok, LG Electronic's home entertainment eVP, says that LG is strengthening its OLED TV marketing, as the company sees OLED TVs becoming a "central megatrend" in 2016.
LG says that OLED TVs hold a market share of about 90% in the global premium TV market. The company is strengthening its distribution channels in the global market - including a cooperation with Best Buy in the US. LG expects more than 10 TV makers to sell OLED TVs in 2016.
There are reports that in a few cases, the battery of Samsung's latest phone, the Galaxy note 7, exploded while charging. Samsung Electronics is expected to announced a recall of all the Note 7 phones it sold since launching the phone last week.
It seems that less than 0.1% of the phones sold include a faulty battery, that can simply be replaced. But Samsung don't wish to appear as if it is delaying anything or hiding anything and rather increase its credibility worldwide.
In July Loewe announced its first OLED TV series, The Bild 7, and the company is now demonstrating its upcoming TV at IFA 2016:
The Bild 7 uses flat 4K OLED panels (produced by LG Display) and features Loewe's own image processing software (VantaVision) and a slim and powerful soundbar that is revealed only when the TV is activated. The Bild 7 will launch later this month for â¬4,990 (55") and â¬6,990 (65").
Exactly one year ago at IFA 2016, Panasonic unveiled its first OLED TV, the 65" curved 4K TX-65CZ950. Now Panasonic unveiled a new "reference" OLED TV prototype, with an aim to show what is possible with next-gen OLED technology.
Panasonic said that it achieved significant progress with near-black reproduction, by applying its plasma self-illuminating experience. It's not clear what is meant exactly, but this probably related to software algorithms Panasonic is developing to increase the quality of the OLED TV image. The panel, of course, is supplied by LG Display.
