LG pOLED: introduction and market status

OLED is an emerging display and lighting technology that enables beautiful and efficient displays and lighting panels. Thin OLEDs are already being used in many mobile devices and TVs.LG V40 ThinQ photo

LG Display - pOLED displays

LG Display is one of the leaders in OLED production. LG Display started producing flexible OLEDs for mobile devices in 2015, initially focusing on small wearable OLEDs - for devices such as Apple's Watch and LG's own wearables.

In October 2017, following a large expansion in LGD's AMOLED production capacity, LG Display started to produce large flexible OLEDs for smartphones. This is when LGD also started to brand its OLED displays as pOLEDs (p is for plastic). LGD now provides its pOLED displays for several smartphone vendors, including Apple.

LGD pOLED production fabs

LG Display has several flexible OLED production fabs. The first one was a pilot 4.5-Gen line, with limited capacity - and so the E2 line is used to produce LGD's flexible wearable OLED displays.

LG Display production hub in Paju

LG Display's second pOLED fab is is its E5 line in Gumi, which has a monthly capacity of 7,500 monthly 6-Gen substrates (or about 1.5 million 5.5" panels at 100% yields). LG Display's thoird line is the E6 line in Paju which is another 6-Gen line, but with a larger capacity of 15,000 monthly substrates.

LG's fourth flexible OLED line may be built at the company's large P10 display production complex in Paju. The P10 will be a large display complex with a total investment of close to $10 billion - but will mostly produce OLED TV panels. It could include a flexible OLED line, but LG's plans are not finalized yet, its seems.

pOLED vs PLED

pOLED is LG Display's brand name for mobile flexible AMOLED displays. Somewhat confusingly, PLED, also called P-OLEDs, are Polymer-based OLED materials - a class of materials pioneered by CDT (now owned by Sumitomo) that can be used to create OLEDs (most OLEDs today use Small Molecule OLED materials). For more on PLEDs, see here.

Further reading

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The latest LG pOLED news:

LG Display aims to expand the use of deuterated OLED compounds

In 2021, LG Display started to adopt deuterated OLED compounds in its WOLED panels, to improve the lifetime, efficiency and brightness. Today, all of LG's WOLED TV panels use deuterated blue OLED emitters, in which hydrogen is replaced by its more stable isotope, deuterium. The higher stability enables longer lifetime, which in turn enables higher brightness and efficiency.

LG Display OLED EX Technology photo

It is now reported in Korea that LG Display now aims to expand the adoption of deuterated OLED compounds to its red and green and yellow emitters, and also other layers in the OLED stack. If this report is true, it means that LGD will also use the technology in its mobile (p-OLED) panels, not just its OLED TV ones. 

Read the full story Posted: Dec 26,2023

Motorola unveils a new bendable phone concept based on an LGD pOLED display

Motorola has demonstrated a new concept phone design, which they refer to as a Adaptive Display Concept. This is a smart bendable phone, that sports a 6.9" FHD+ (2220x1080) flexible AMOLED display produced by LG Display.

The adaptive display concept can be adjusted from a standard Android phone experience in a flat position to being wrapped for a wrist-worn experience or positioned in several stand modes. 

Read the full story Posted: Oct 27,2023

LG Display strenghten its premium automotive display partnership with Mercedes-Benz

LG Display announced that it is strengthening its partnership and collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. The two companies started working together in 2004, and since then the German carmaker has been applying cutting-edge automotive displays from LGD to its luxury vehicles.

Mercedes has been applying LGD's OLEDs for several years, and so it is not clear what will now change, but it is likely that we'll see more Mercedes models adopting high-end displays from LGD, mostly OLEDs. The Mercedes EQE 2022, for example, uses either a 12.8-inch AMOLED or (optionally) Mercedes' MBUX Hyperscreen, a 56-inch display, actually made from three different OLED units, embedded in a single glass display. There's a central 17.7-inch panel plus two 12.3-inch panels. The 56-inch glass also includes holes for the air-vents which are integrated into the display.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 24,2023

LG Display raises $1 billion in debt to invest in its OLED module factory in Vietnam

LG Display announced that it has raised $1 billion in long-term loans from international banks, that will be invested in expanding its OLED module production line in Vietnam.

LG Display OLED assembly fab, Hai Phong Vietnam

In September 2021 LGD announced it is set to expand its Hai Phong fab capacity to 13-14 million monthly units, in a $1.4 billion investment. It's not clear whether the new funds are an addition to that, or is this the funding for the 2021 announcement.

Read the full story Posted: Jun 16,2022

LG Display confirms it is supplying flexible OLED displays to Mercedes' electric cars

The 2022 Mercedes EQE electric car comes with either a 12.8-inch AMOLED or (optionally) Mercedes' MBUX Hyperscreen. The Hyperscreen is a 56-inch display, actually made from three different OLED units, embedded in a single glass display. There's a central 17.7-inch panel plus two 12.3-inch panels. The 56-inch glass also includes holes for the air-vents which are integrated into the display.

The MBUX Hyperscreen was first used in the higher-end EQS electric car. The 'lower-end' 12.8-inch AMOLED screen, shown below, is used in the 2021 S-class cars. We speculated that LG Display is supplier to Mercedes (the two companies have been working together since around 2016) and LG Display earlier this week officially confirmed that it is indeed Mercedes' OLED supplier.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 14,2022

LGD reports a profitable quarter, on track to ship 8 million OLED TV panels in 2021

LG Display reported its financial results for Q3 2021. Revenues increased 7% from Q3 2020 to reach 7,223 billion KRW ($6.2 billion USD) while net income was 463 billion KRW ($396 million USD).

LGD says that it enjoyed high demand for IT panels, and its large-size OLED business continues to "strengthen its position in the market as the premium TV sector continues to grow". LGD expects to ship 8 million OLED TV panels in 2021, with record annual profit.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 27,2021

LGD to increase pOLED production capacity in a $2.8 billion investment

A few weeks ago LG Display noted that it is reviewing a plan to expand the capacity of its mobile OLED production plants, and today LGD announced its formal plan to invest 3.3 trillion Won (around $2.8 billion) to expand pOLED capacity.

LGD will expand its 6-Gen AMOLED production capacity, and this expansion project will finish by March 2024. LGD did not provide any more details about this plan. LGD is enjoying high demand for its mobile AMOLED displays, with Apple one of its major customers.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 17,2021

LG Display reports solid Q1 2021 results, will decide on OLED TV capacity expansion by Q3 2021

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billion, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

LG Display announced its financial results for Q1 2021. The company reported sales of $6.2 billow, an operating income of $469.5 million and net profit of $238 million. Sales were lower (by 8%) compared to Q4 2020, but higher by 46% from Q4 2020. LGD remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 29,2021