OLED news: top news and stories on OLED technology and market - Page 1

LG Electronics to close its mobile phone business unit

LG Electronics announced that it will close its mobile phone business unit. LG has lost around $4.5 billion in its smartphone business over the past five years, as competition, especially from China, is strong. LG's global smartphone market share is around 2% and the company did not manage to find a buyer for its money-losing unit.

LG Wing photo

In the past few years LG aimed to focus on high-end phones with new designs, especially the Explorer series of next-generation phone designs and technologies. The first Explorer phone was the LG Wing, a unique smartphone that sports dual displays in a swivel revolving display design. The Wing sports a main 6.8-inch 2460x1080 flexible LGD P-OLED display and another 3.9-inch 1240x1080 G-OLED (LG's rigid OLED brand) display.

Samsung Display to start producing QD OLED module samples by June 2021

In 2019 Samsung Display formally announced its decision to invest $10.85 billion in QD-OLED TV R&D and production lines. It was reported before that SDC is started to produce panel prototypes, and is on track to start mass production in Q3 2021.

Samsung Display QD Display (QD-OLED) production equipment arrives at Asan line

According to a new report from Korea, SDC is set to begin producing full module prototypes in June this year. In addition SDC had to increase the brightness of its panels as TV makers said it is not enough for premium TV adoption. SDC will produce both TV and monitor prototypes, which it will send to potential customers (such as Samsung Electronics, Sony, and Chinese TV makers). When customers approve the prototypes, SDC will be ready for commercial production.

UDC and LG Display extend their long-term agreements

Universal Display and LG Display announced that the companies have extended their long-term agreements. LGD and UDC signed new OLED Technology License and Material Purchase Agreements. The new extended agreements run for five years.

UDC RGB PHOLED materials photo

UDC and LG did not disclose any further details or any financial terms. The two companies signed the original agreement in 2015.

Skyworth launches a 65-inch bendable OLED TV, and an 88" 8K one

China-based TV maker Skyworth announced two exciting new OLED TVs. First up is the the Skyworth W82, which is the world's first bendable TV, that can change from a flat screen to a curved one (with a curvature radius of 1000R), which Skyworth says is suitable especially for gamers.

The W82 sports a 65-inch 120Hz WOLED TV panel and features Dolby Vision, HDR10, Skyworth's AI Picture Quality 4K engine, VRR and 240Hz Crystal Motion OLED. The TV will start shipping in May 2021 in China for 29,999 Yuan (around $4,575).

BOE and Himax announce an electric vehicle design-win for a 12.8-inch flexible AMOLED

Himax Technologies, together with BOE Varitronix (automotive display product supplier) announced that they secured a design-win with a leading new electric vehicle maker.

The customer will soon launch a flagship automobile, which will sport a 12.8-inch flexible AMOLED center information display product. The new solution includes a flexible AMOLED display produced by BOE and a Himax AMOLED driver IC and timing controller system.

You can now pre-order LG's rollable OLED TV in the UK, for 99,999 GBP

A few days ago we reported that LG Electronics is getting ready to launch its 65" rollable OLED TV, the 65RX OLED TV globally. And now the rollable TV is available to pre-order in the UK. The price is £99,999 - or around $137,000. This is higher than the price is Korea, which is around $87,000. If LG manages to find customers, it will ship the TV form Korea.

LG rollable OLED TV RX photo

LG started shipping the TV in Korea in October 2020. Last month it was reported that LG sold only 10 units.

Did Tianma develop its own polarizer-free foldable CFOT OLED architecture?

Tianma unveiled a new OLED display technology, which it refers to as CFOT OLED. This new foldable AMOLED display improves over the company's previous design with a lowered power consumption. The new displays are also thinner than before. The company demonstrated a 8.3-inch CFOT OLED:

Tianma CFOT foldable OLED prototype photo

We do not know much about this new technology. But from the performance boost and the CF part of the name, it is likely that this is a polarizer-free OLED that adopts color-filters instead to remove reflections.

LG Display's OLED TV panels receive a 'discomfort glare-free' verification from UL

LG Display announced that its OLED TV panels obtained a 'Discomfort Glare Free' verification from UL, a leading global safety science company. LGD says that this is the first display ever to be recognized as a display that emits no glare.

LGD OLED TV Discomfort Glare Free UL Verification photo

UL’s testing is based on the Unified Glare Rating (UGR), a glare assessment recognized by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE). The verification mark is issued only when the UGR is 22 or less when watching TV between 70 lux (lx), which is about the brightness of a bedroom floor lamp, and 300 lux (lx), which is equivalent to the light from a bright window.

Solus Advanced Materials to build a $20.5 million OLED materials plant in China

Korea-based OLED materials maker Solus Advanced Materials (previously Doosan Solus, which was spun-off from DEM in 2019) announced that it will setup a $20.5 million OLED materials fab in Changzhou, Jiangsu province in China.

Solus Advanced Materials OLED plant in Changzhou - render

The new factory will be modeled after the company's existing Iksan (South Korea) fab and iwll produce the same high quality OLED materials. It will start operations by the end of 2022, and by 2025 it will have a capacity of 20 metric tonnes.

Here come Samsung polarizer-free POL-LESS OLEDs

Samsung Display has been developing polarizer-free AMOLED displays for many years, and last year UBI detailed how the company plans to use color filters to eliminate the need for polarizers and so increase the efficiency of their OLED panels while also lowering the thickness.

DSCC posted an interested article that details Samsung's upcoming polarizer-free OLEDs, which it brands as POL-LESS OLEDs. The first OLEDs to adopt this new structure are expected to be adopted in Samsung's Galaxy Fold 3 later this year.