UBI Research says that according to its latest information and forecasts, shipments of Samsung's rigid smartphone AMOLED displays declined to 19 million units in Q3 2022, a drop of over 50% compared to last year. Rigid smartphone OLED display sales will continue to decline at an annual rate of 12.9% and will reach only only 96 million units in 2027.

Flexible OLED sales will continue to increase at a rate of 7.4% from 2022 to 2027. In 2027, Samsung Display will ship 220 million flexible OLED displays, while BOE will ship 140 million OLEDs.

According to reports from Korea, Apple is designing a new foldable MacBook laptop, that will adopt a large 20.25 foldable OLED display. Apple is collaborating with Samsung or LG Display on this project, the report does not detail that.

The reports also suggest that Apple is looking into smaller foldable display - including a foldable iPhone and a foldable iPad Mini (10-inch when open) - but these projects aren't confirmed yet.

LG Display announced that its automotive P-OLED and premium LTPS LCD displays have been certified as eco-friendly by Switzerland-based inspection, verification and certification leader, SGS. LG Display that its displays are the first in the industry to have received this certification.

SGS gives this certification to products that adhere to global environmental regulations and minimize hazardous substances all the way from production to disposal.

UBI Research says that according to its latest study, the OLED emitter market is set to grow from around $1.82 billion in 2022 to $2.75 billion in 2027, with an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6%.

In 2027, UBI expects Samsung's emitter material orders to amount to $680 million - fueled by growth in foldable OLED panels. BOE's emitter material orders will reach $380 million, and LG Display's - $230 million.

In May 2022 we reported that LG Display is looking into adopting a microLens array in its large OLED TV panel architecture. The microlens layer could boost brightness by up to 20%, which will also increase efficiency (if brightness is kept as before). According to a new report from Korea, LGD is progressing in its project and estimates that the first MLA (Micro Lens Array) OLED panels will enter production in 2024.

MicroLens array structure, University of Michigan

The original report in May stated that LGD could actually begin producing MLA OLEDs as early as in 2022 - but it seems as this was overly optimistic. Earlier this year, LGD demonstrated a 77" 8K MLA WOLED panel.

DSCC says that 2022 was a disappointing year for VR, as the market did not grow as expected - although it still expects the market to grow quickly in the near future. DSCC sees $942 million in display panel revenues in 2022, growing to $7.3 billion by 2027 (a CAGR of 50.7%).

DSSC sees OLED microdisplays (OLED on Silicon, or SiOLED) leading the market from 2023 onwards, as producers start using these displays in VR headsets - including Apple's upcoming VR headset that will be based on dual 4K OLED microdisplays (in addition to an AMOLED display). Apple's VR headset is expected to be released in 2023.

Universal Display announced that it has signed long-term OLED material supply and license agreements with Samsung Display. 

These new agreements mean that UDC will continue and supply its PHOLED OLED emitter materials to Samsung Display. The agreements are scheduled to run through December 31, 2027, and may be extended for an additional two-year period. Financial terms of the agreements have not been disclosed.

On February 7th the MicroLED Industry Association will host a private webinar on microLED technologies for the AR market. The AR market is a very good segment for microLED developers, as it offers high performance requirements, relative microLED maturity and an excellent horizon.

The upcoming Seminar will feature four world-leading speakers, and will also be open to a Q&A session, to help increase microLED developers knowledge and involvement in the AR industry:

• Karl Guttag: a display systems engineer, one of the most respected experts on near eye displays and HMD designs
• Assaf Levy-Beeri: CEO at JoyaTeam, an optical design team focusing on AR solutions
• Soon-gi Park: AR specialist at LetinAR, a Korea-based AR optical system developer
• Reza Chaji: CEO at microLED microdisplay developer VueReal (and a microLED association member)

Yeolight showed several new OLED lighting taillights designs at the Automotive Lighting Exhibition in Shanghai. In the video below you can see the various prototypes.

Some of these displays seem very impressive, with a large amount of panels. The full-length taillights have 1,434 OLED panels in different shapes and sizes, and support multiple dynamic effects.

MSI unveiled an upcoming monitor, a QD-OLED super ultra-wide curved display, that will offer a 240Hz herz. MSI did not disclose anything else - beyond saying that the current name is Project 491C.

This is the first time we publicly hear of a 240Hz QD-OLED display. Samsung currently produces a single monitor QD-OLED panel, a 34-inch curved 175Hz 3440x1440 display.