Samsung OLED | OLED-Info

OLED is an emerging display technology that is fast becoming the mainstream display technology in many markets, as OLED enables display panels that offer the best image quality and free design as they can be made flexible and transparent. The Samsung OLED displays are considered to be the best in the industry and the Korean company is the clear lead in AMOLED production for mobile devices.

SDC 5.7'' FHD rollable OLED at SID 2016

Over the pay years Samsung invested billions of dollars in OLED research and production facilities as the company sees OLEDs fast replacing LCD displays in all mobile applications.

Samsung AMOLED displays

Samsung is currently producing over 300 million AMOLED displays in a year, used mostly in smartphones - such as Samsung's own Galaxy S7 (and S7 edge ) - but also in smartphones from Gionee, Meizu, Acer, HP, Vivo, Microsoft, Lenovo, ZTE, Hisense, Konka and others. Samsung also produces large mobile OLEDs for tablets, laptops and monitors.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge photo Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

In August 2013 Samsung launched the company's first OLED TV, the KN55S9C, which used a curved 55" OLED panel. The TV was priced at around $8999 in the US and Korea, but is no longer in production, and was never in real mass production. Samsung has yet to return to OLED TV production.

Samsung flexible OLED displays

Following its initial flexible OLED production launch in 2013, and the huge success of its edge-type phones, Samsung is currently producing around 9 million flexible OLEDs each month to satisfy demand for the Galaxy S7 edge and its other flexible OLED products. Samsung has reportedly been chosen to supply 100 million flexible OLED panels to Apple's future iPhones.

Future Samsung OLED devices

Samsung is developing several next generation display technologies based on OLEDs. Samsung has been developing a foldable OLED device for a long time - which may dramatically change the mobile device market as it could enable smartphone to turn into tablets or phones that can be folded into smaller devices.

Samsung is also developing transparent OLEDs (see the company's 55" FHD transparent and mirror-type OLEDs here) for retail application, and also readies next generation displays for the automotive industry.

Several years ago Samsung released the following video, showing a concept transparent flexible AMOLED tablet device. It will be years before Samsung can commercialize such a display, but it's nice to see what the future holds:

Samsung unveiled its upcoming foldable smartphone, with a 7.3" fold-in AMOLED

As expected, Samsung unveiled its upcoming foldable smartphone yesterday. The rumors were correct, and Samsung's first foldable device will have two screens - a large 7.3" foldable AMOLED that folds inside, and a smaller OLED that is used when the phone is closed. Samsung brands the display as the Samsung Infinity Flex Display.

Samsung Galaxy X prototype photo

The inner foldable display is a 7.3" AMOLED with a resolution of 1532x2152. The outer display is a 4.5" 840x1960 AMOLED. The whole device seems to be quite thick and about double the depth compared to a standard smartphone.

Read the full story | 4 comments | Posted: Nov 08, 2018

Will Samsung reveal its first foldable device today?

Samsung's annual US developer conference is starting today, and rumors suggest that the company will unveil its first foldable device (the Galaxy F?) during the event. Samsung Mobile's Facebook page profile image was changed today to the one you see below - which surely suggests something foldable:

Samsung Mobile Galaxy F teaser profile image

Hopefully we'll know more soon. For a few months now we hear that Samsung foldable device launch will take place in November, and according to the latest estimates the device will sport a 7.3" OLED display that folds inside. The device will also sport an external, smaller AMOLED.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 07, 2018

Digitimes details Samsung's QD-OLED TV production plans and equipment

Samsung Display is developing hybrid QD-OLED TV technology, and according to estimates, the company aims to begin trial production in 2019. It is also estimated that Samsung has several challenges to overcome, but according to new reports from Digitimes, Samsung is aiming to start installing equipment for the new fab as early as December 2018.

QD-OLED stack scheme (DSCC, Oct-2018)

The new fab will begin operation in the second half of 2019 - pilot production at first which will be expanded to full scale mass production. The new fab will be built in Samsung's L8 LCD production line in Asan, and will take over one of the two lines currently in operation at the fab. Samsung's initial production capacity will be around 25,000 monthly G8 substrates.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 01, 2018

Samsung reports higher sales of flexible OLEDs in Q3 2018

Samsung Electronics reported its financial results for Q3 2018, with a 5.5% increase in revenues (to KRW 65.46 trillion) and 20.9% increase in quarterly operating profits.

Samsung Display fared "unfavorable supply-demand conditions in the LCD market" - but total revenues improved from last year thanks for higher sales of flexible OLED panels. Earnings significantly grew from Q2 2018 due to increased utilization of flexible OLED panel capacity. Samsung expects OLED demand to remain strong in Q4 2018.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 01, 2018

Samsung is developing laptops with foldable displays

Lee Min-Cheol, Samsung Electronic's PC Marketing VP says that Samsung is collaborating with "display makers" (Samsung Display? or an error in the quote?) to develop OLED laptops with foldable displays. Samsung says that it aims to bring "new value and user experience" and not just create a laptop and can simply fold in and out.

Samsung will hopefully release its first foldable smartphone device by the end of 2018 or in early 2019, but apparently the company is already thinking about other form factors. Earlier this month a report from Korea suggested that LG Display is collaborating with Lenovo to develop a 13" foldable tablet, with aims to start panel production in H2 2019.

Read the full story | 2 comments | Posted: Oct 25, 2018

Samsung Display details its future sensor technologies for under-the-OLED solutions

On October 19 Samsung held its 2018 Samsung OLED Forum, in Shenzhen, China, during which the company highlighted its OLED technology roadmap.

SDC sensor integrated tech slide (Oct 2018)

In an interesting slide, Samsung shows its roadmap for integrating sensors into the OLED display. Samsung's vision includes putting a fingerprint sensor, a camera (Under Panel Sensor, or UPS), speaker (Sound on Display) and also Haptic capabilities.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 20, 2018

DisplayMate: the Google Pixel 3 XL AMOLED is made by SDC, is a top-notch smartphone display

Display measurement experts Display Mate posted an in-depth review of the Google Pixel 3 XL 6.3" 1440x2960 AMOLED display. The display wins DisplayMate's highest ever Overall Display Assessment Grade of A+ together with a DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Award.

DisplayMate says that Google now joins Apple and Samsung as the top tier of smartphone displays. The Google 3 XL display is on par with the AMOLED display used in Samsung's Galaxy S9. Interestingly, it turns out that Samsung Display provides this 6.3" AMOLED display to the Pixel 3 XL, while LG Display is likely to be the supplier for the smaller 5.5" 1080x2160 display used in the Pixel 3.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 16, 2018

Reports from Korea estimate SDC's QD-OLED investments at $8.8 billion between 2019 and 2021

In April 2018 Samsung announced it is developing QD-OLEDs (hybrid Quantum Dots - OLED) TVs. Later reports suggested that the company is building its first production line, with aims to begin pilot production in 2019.

Samsung QD-OLED structure (UBI Research)

According to a new report from Korea, if Samsung's initial QD-OLED development is successful, it plans to convert an existing LCD line (SDC's 8-Gen L8-1 line) to QD-OLED production in 2020. Samsung's projected investment in its QD-OLED production will exceed $8.8 billion between 2019 and 2021.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 15, 2018

Samsung's 5.67" WQHD AMOLEDs available on clearance sale

Our supplier in China has received around 10,000 units of Samsung's 5.67" WQHD (1440x2560) smartphone AMOLED displays, following a canceled project.

These displays are now available for a relatively low cost. If anyone is interested in these displays, let us know, this could be a good opportunity. Click here for more information on this panel.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 09, 2018

ETNews: Samsung's rigid OLED production recovers to its 2017 level

According to Korea's ETNews, SDC's rigid OLED production level has recovered fully in Q3 2018 and is now even higher than the production level in Q3 2017. Most of the new demand comes from China-based smartphone producers. ETNews says that SDC's A2 factory's utilization rates were over 90% in Q3 2018 (up from about 80% in Q3 2017).

Samsung's flexible OLED production has also recovered following new shipments to Apple's iPhone XS and XS Max, but the utilization rate in SDC's A3 flexible OLED fab is still lower than last year's.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 09, 2018