BOE to ship its first flexible AMOLED at the end of October 2017

Back in May it was reported that BOE started producing flexible OLEDs at the company's new 6-Gen (the B7) fab in Chengdu. This was apparently a bit optimistic, but a new report from Japan now says that BOE aims to ship its first flexible OLED out of the Chengdu fab at the end of next month (October 2017).

BOE 6-Gen Chengdu flexible AMOLED fab photo

BOE's new fab has a capacity of 45,000 monthly substrates - enough to make around 90 million smartphone sized AMOLEDs annually. It is likely though that initial yields will be low and production quite limited.

In addition to this fab in Chengdu, in October 2016 BOE announced another 6-Gen OLED fab, in Mianyang. The Miangyang fab will also have a similar capacity of 45,000 sheets per month and will enter production in 2019. Total investment in the Miangyang fab is estimated at 46.5 billion yuan ($6.87 billion USD).

BOE Flexible AMOLED prototype (2017 photo)

It is not clear what kind of displays will BOE produce at the B7 fab, but it is likely to be a combination of smartphone sized displays and wearable ones.

In May 2016 BOE Display demonstrated several new AMOLED prototypes - including a 4.35" bendable and foldable OLED displays. The bendable panels offer a resolution of 1120x480 (HWVGA, 280 PPI) and a bending radius of 15 mm. The brightness is 350 nits. The color gamut is 100% NTSC. The foldable panels are the same - except the bending radius is much smaller at 5 mm.

BOE 9.95-inch flexible transparent OLED prototype

BOE 9.95-inch flexible transparent OLED prototype

In June 2015 BOE Demonstrated larger flexible OLEDs - including a 9.55" 640x432 transparent flexible panels and a 4.8" 480x800 panel.

Posted: Sep 24,2017 by Ron Mertens