UK-based OFTF developer SmartKem announced that it has signed a Letter Of Intent (LOI) with a display maker in Taiwan to develop and mass produce commercial displays using its OTFT technology.

SmartKem did not name this company, but they did say that the company produces both LCD and AMOLED displays, which means it is likely to be either AU Optronics or Innolux. It is not clear whether the Taiwanes display maker will use SmartKem's technology for future OLED or LCD displays (or, most likely, both).

AUO demonstrates several OLED panels and technologies at SID 2017, and the excellent video below walks through these displays with lot's of details.

First up is AUO's foldable 5" 1280x720 (295 PPI) high color gamut (95% BT.2020) display announced last month. JJ Lih, AUO's R&D manager, says that the company expects to have this display in mass production within 2 years. The panel is only 1 mm thick and the bending (folding) radius is 4 mm.

AU Optronics developed new round AMOLED displays, which they call True-Circle displays, which have slimmer salient corners compared to AUO's current round OLED displays. This enables watch designers more flexibility with their designs.

AUO is demonstrating two such displays, with a diameter of 1.2-inch and 1.4-inch. AUO aims to start mass producing these new displays in the second half of 2017. You can see how these displays look compared to AUO's current "Full Circle" displays.

AU Optronics says that nine fashion brands have adopted the company's 1.2" and 1.4" round AMOLED displays for future smartwatch products. AUO will begin shipping the displays to these products in Q2 2017 - with shipments expected to reach a million panels per quarter in the second half of 2017.

AUO started producing its 1.4" circular AMOLED display in 2015. The company already ships those to smartwatch makers in China. You can find out more information on AUO's round AMOLED here.

Taiwan's AU Optronics reported an excellent quarter, with the best Q1 profit in nine years ($314 million). Regarding its AMOLED business, AUO says that it made "significant progress" this year in expanding its client base. The company's monthly shipments are expected to reach 1 million units in the second half of 2017.

Last month we reported that AUO's AMOLED production yields are improving - and the company resumed production of smartphone AMOLEDs. The company is focused on AMOLEDs for wearables and VR.

AU Optronics developed a new foldable AMOLED display that can endure very severe folding and environmental impact using symmetric panel stacking (SPS) with an innovative color filter structure design. The display also features a wide color gamut (95% BT.2020). This paper was awarded as a distinguished paper at SID and will be presented at DisplayWeek next month.

AUO demonstrated a 5" 1280x720 (295 PPI) AMOLED that was folded bidirectionally over 1.5 million times at a 4-mm bending radius - without any damage on the panel performance. AUO also developed a foldable 7.8-inch display that can be folded to a 5.5" display (bidirectionally as well). The resolution of the display in its open state is 1920x1440.

Our display supplier in China has just received a large quantity of AUO's square 1.63" 320x320 AMOLED displays (with the touch layer), following a cancelled project that had already bought these panels. Those AMOLEDs are now offered at less than half their normal cost.

The supplier has 4,000 units - and this may be a great opportunity to get these panels at a low cost - contact us for more details. These AMOLEDs have a MIPI DSI interface, a size of 32.08x36.48 mm (active area 29.28 x 29.29 mm) and a thickness of 0.7 mm.

Taiwan's AU Optronics starts shipping a new AMOLED display for wearable (and other) applications. The new AMOLED is a square 1.3" (active area 23.28x23.28 mm) panel with a resolution of 240x240 (261 PPI).

A few days ago we reported that AUO has reportedly managed to increase its AMOLED production yields, and the company is now indeed launching new AMOLED displays and resumes production of smartphone-sized AMOLEDs.

Taiwan's AU Optronics started to mass produce smartphone-sized OLED panels back in August 2014, but the company later changed its focus to wearable and VR panels. AUO production capacity is relatively low at its AFPD Gen-4.5 LTPS fab in Singapore, but we now hear reports that AUO's yields have been improving.

In fact AUO has managed to lower the prices of its AMOLED displays, and has now resumed production and sale of smartphone sized OLEDs, especially its 4.97" 720p (1280x720) on-cell touch AMOLED.

A couple of weeks ago, at IDW 2016, AU Optronics introduced a new bi-directional foldable AMOLED display. This display can be bent both inwards and upwards, unlike previous foldable AMOLED prototypes which can only be bent in one direction.

AUO says that the AMOLED structure limits the flexibility, and to overcome this the company replaced the circular polarizer usually used with a thin (10um) color filter array (apparently this is an WRGB display). AUO also used specially-located TFT and TFE (encapsulation) layers that endure many folding cycles - AUO says that the display can be bent more than 1.2 million times in 4mm curvature radius. The entire display thickness is 100 um.