» LG OLED

LG OLED company spotlight

OLED is an emerging display technology that uses thin films of organic materials to make efficient, thin and high quality displays. OLED panels can made flexible, rollable and transparent. Korea's LG is at the forefront of OLED development and production - as the world's only OLED TV producer and a leading developer of flexible OLED and OLED lighting panels. LG's subsidiary LG Display is responsible for OLED R&D and panel production, while LG Electronics produces and markets OLED TVs.

LG OLED TVs

LG is the world's clear leader in OLED TV technologies. LG Display is the only company that produces commercial panels (although China's BOE is also entering production), and LG Electronics has several OLED TV models on the market - ranging in size from 55" to 77". Some of these are flat, and some are curved, and all the latest models support 4K (UHD) resolution and HDR. Reviews of LG's OLED TVs are great, and most experts say that these are the best TVs ever produced - with virtually perfect image quality. Following is a table of LG's 2016 models (LG's 2017 OLEDTV models are just entering the market now as well)

LG OLED65B6P photo
Flat 55"/65" ($2,497 / $3,499)
LG OLED65C6P photo
Curved 55"/65" ($2,497 / $3,499)
LG OLED65E6P photo
Flat high-end 55"/65" ($3,499 / $4,999)
LG OLED77G6P photo
Premium TVs ($7,999 / $19,999)

In early 2017 LG launched updated 2017 models, and the company's new flag ship TV is the Wallpaper Signature OLEDW7. These extremely thin TVs (2.57 mm all the way) attach to the wall using magnets. LG Display also supplies panels to other companies - including Panasonic, Sony, Grundig, Philips, Metz, Loewe, Skyworth, Changhong, Haier, Konka and KTC.

While the basic OLED TV design uses RGB OLED sub-pixels to create each 'pixel' (what is referred to as direct emission OLED, the design used in mobile OLED displays such as those in Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Apple's Watch), LG Display opted for a different OLED TV design. The so-called WRGB (or WOLED-CF) architecture uses four white OLED subpixels with color filters on top (hence W+RBG). The WRGB technology (developed by Kodak and now owned by LG Display) is much easier to produce and scale-up, even though it has some technical disadvantages - and it is the technology that enabled LG to be the first company to actually produce commercial OLED TV panels.

LG Flexible OLEDs for mobile devices

LG currently produces plastic-based OLEDs in its Gen-4.5 fab, with a monthly capacity of 14,000 substrates (more than double its capacity in the beginning of 2014). LG Display's flexible AMOLEDs were used in LG's mobile phones (the G Flex 2) and are currently used in wearable devices (such as the Wear 2.0 Watch Sport) and in Apple's Watch and Watch Series 2.



LG's flexible OLED capacity is quite limited at this stage, but the company is set to dramatically increase its production capacity. With 3 flexible OLED fabs already underway. The first one will be the the E5 6-Gen (1500x1850 mm) $900 million line that is scheduled to begin mass production in the first half of 2017.

LG Transparent OLEDs

LG are also working on transparent OLEDs. In 2014 LGD unveiled a 18" transparent OLED prototype, and later in 2016 LGD demonstrated transparent 55" FHD AMOLED display prototypes. These panels are not yet in production, but hopefully LG will start producing these eventually.

LG OLED Lighting

LG Display is developing and producing OLED lighting panels, and the company is one of the leaders in OLED lighting. The company produces several panels, including the world's largest OLEDs (at 320x320 mm) and the world's first flexible OLEDs (on a glass substrate).

LG Chem truly flexible OLED lighting panel photo

LG's current OLED lighting production capacity is limited, but the company is constructing a Gen-5 OLED lighting fab that will enter production in early 2017. The new fab will enable LG to increase production volume and cut prices dramatically.

Further reading

Latest LG OLED news

LG orders two 6-Gen flexible OLED deposition systems from Canon Tokki

Jun 23, 2017

Japan-based Canon Tokki is considered the world's leader in vacuum evaporation equipment, and the company has a large backlog - reportedly it had to decline orders from several OLED makers as all of its capacity was taken up mostly by Samsung Display and BOE.

LG 6'' flexible OLED edge phone prototype photo

The Korea Herald reports that LG Display has now managed to order two 6-Gen deposition systems from Canon Tokki. The price of each system is around $115 million, and it can support up to 15,000 monthly substrates. The first machine will be delivered in December 2017 and the second in February 2018.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: Jun 23, 2017

LGD developed a 77" flexible and transparent OLED display

Jun 22, 2017

LG Display announced that it has developed a 77" flexible and transparent OLED display. The display features a resolution of 4K/UHD (3840 x 2160), a 80 mm radius of curvature and 40% transparency.

LG 77'' flexible and transparent OLED smart desk

LG Display demonstrated two possible applications for this display - above you can see the "smart desk" demonstration, and below you can see a commercial retail demonstration. It is not clear from the press release, but it seems that LGD plans to commercialize such a display in the future.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: Jun 22, 2017
OLED Handbook

LGD confirms that its P10 plant in Paju will be exclusively used to make OLED displays

Jun 22, 2017

Towards the end of 2015 LG Display announced that it plans to build a new OLED fab (P10) in Paju in a $8.7 billion investment to produce both mid-sized flexible OLED and large-sized OLED TV panels. In May 2017 it was reported that LG decided to produce LCD panels rather than OLED panels in its upcoming fab.

LG Display P10 construction photo

According to Business Korea, LGD has confirmed that the P10 plant will indeed be used to produce only OLED displays - and will vote on this decision next week. The P10 fab will be used to make OLED TV panels in addition to small and medium sized flexible OLEDs. LGD has yet to decide exactly how to split the production capacity between large-area and small-area displays.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: Jun 22, 2017

LG lowers the price of most of its 2017 OLED TVs

May 31, 2017

LG Electronics just lowered the price of most of its newest OLED TVs. The price of its signature OLEDG7 TVs was slashed by $1,000 - so the price for the 65" model now costs $5,999. The price of LG's high-end OLEDE7 TVs were also reduced by $1,000 - the current prices are $3,999 for the 55" model and $4,999 for the 65" model.

LG OLEDE7 photo

The prices of LG's entry-level OLEDC7 TV were also reduced. The 55" model now costs $2,799 (down from $2,999) while the 65" one costs $3,997 (down from $4,499). It seems that the prices of LG's other OLED TVs did not change.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: May 31, 2017

Google and a leading OLED maker are developing a next-gen OLED VR display

May 30, 2017

Google's VR vice president, Clay Bavor, revealed that Google has partnered with "one of the leading OLED makers" on a secret project to develop a high-end VR display. The OLED display will support a resolution of 20 million pixels per eye.

SDC 806 PPI VR OLED at SID 2016

This is a very high resolution - a 4K display has 8.3 million pixels, so it means 2.5X the number of pixels in a 4K display. It terms of display density (which depends on the panel size of course, which we assume to be around 3.5"), this could be around 1,800 PPI.

Permalink read more Read the full story | 4 comments | Posted: May 30, 2017

A report from Korea claims that LGD decided to produce LCDs and not OLEDs in its upcoming P10 fab

May 22, 2017

Towards the end of 2015 LG Display announced that it plans to build a new OLED fab (P10) in Paju in a $8.7 billion investment to produce both mid-sized flexible OLED and large-sized OLED TV panels. Production was planned for the first half of 2018.

LG Display P10 construction photo

According to a new report from Korea, LGD decided to scrap these plans and use the P10 fab to produce LCD panels and not OLEDs. LGD will establish a 10.5-Gen production line and will start making large-area LCDs (mostly 75" TV panels) towards the end of 2018.

Permalink read more Read the full story | 1 comment | Posted: May 22, 2017

LG launches its 77" Wallpaper OLEDW7 TV in Korea for $30,000

May 18, 2017

LG Electronics launched its 77" Signature OLEDW7 Wallpaper TV in Korea, with a price tag of 33 million Won (almost $30,000, although there's a 4 million Won discount if you order before the end of June). LG aims to gradually release its flagship TV globally in the coming months.

LG 77'' OLEDW7 Korea launch event

LG's OLED W7 is the company's top-of-the-line OLED TV for 2017. The TV is extremely thin (2.57 mm all the way) and attaches to the wall using magnets. A thin cable on the bottom connects to the sound bar. Other features include a 4K resolution, HDR support (to four different standards), WebOS 3.5 and Dolby Atmos sound. The 65" model is now shipping for around $8,000.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: May 18, 2017

LG to start adopting flexible OLEDs in all its premium smartphones, starting with the V30

May 17, 2017

LG Display's 900 million E5 line in Gumi is scheduled to start producing flexible AMOLED soon, and according to the Korea Herald LG aims to adopt flexible OLEDs in its upcoming V30 smartphone (due out in September) and also in the 2018 G7 phone.

LG 6'' flexible OLED edge phone prototype photo

The Korea Herald says that LG aims to start adopting OLEDs in all its future smartphones - although it is likely that the Korean maker will only use OLEDs in premium phones (especially as it is only producing high-end flexible OLEDs rather than glass based ones). LGD will also reportedly devote some of its capacity to Chinese phone makers.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: May 17, 2017

LG Display reports a record quarter, increases OLED investment

Apr 27, 2017

LG Display reported its financial results for Q1 2017 - with a record operating profit of just over $900 million as the selling price of its display panel increase.

LG 2017 OLED TV lineup photo

LG Display says that the company is increasing its investment into OLEDs (going forward 70% of its capital expenditures will go to OLED production and R&D), and is also increasing production of OLED TV panels. The company is currently making about 300,000 OLED TV panels in a quarter, but this will be increased to 500,000 in the second half of 2017.

Permalink read more Read the full story  Posted: Apr 27, 2017
The 2nd International TADF workshop, July 2017, Kyushu, JapanThe 2nd International TADF workshop, July 2017, Kyushu, Japan