What the future holds for OLED TVs

In november 2007 Sony has started to sell their 11" OLED TV (the XEL-1). This is an exciting move by Sony, but this cannot be considered a real commercial OLED TV. They are only producing 2,000 of those units monthly, the price is extremly high - around 1,800$ for a 11" TV (and Sony admits they are losing money on each unit). Even the power consumption of those TVs is rather high - higher than compatiable LCDs.



But still Sony is clearly commited to OLEDs - and it seems like they are betting the future of their TV business on OLEDs. Sony were late to the Flat-Panel TV "party" and are no longer considered innovators. Now they are trying to be in the forefront of the technology again, and OLEDs is their technology of choice.



When Sony annnounced their intention to sell OLED TVs in the end of 2007, several companies had to comment on their own next-gen display strategy - and almost all of them have plans for OLED TVs.



Samsung is also deep into OLEDs, and they are currently producing small AMOLED panel (~2"), expecting to sell more than 2 million panels in Q4 2007. Samsung has said they will make 21" OLED monitors by 2009, and will have 42" Full HD TVs by 2010.





CMEL (spinned off Chi Mei Optoelectronics) is devoted to OLEDs, and are also making AMOLED panels today. CMEL expects to offer 32" OLED TVs during 2010. CMEL are making quite a bit of noise lately - with their AMOLED panels and also showing off a 25" prototype. CMEL is using UDC's PHOLED materials in their displays.







Sumitomo chemicals, who recently acquired CDT and are into OLED chemicals, say they have plans to make a P-OLED TV by 2009 or 2010. Toshiba is also touting 30" TVs by 2009 - they will be using TMDisplay's P-OLED panels.



Other companies include Epson who's building a production line capable of 21" panels, LG Philips who's making AMOLED panels, and Canon who said they will make small OLED TVs (they still tout SED for large TVs).



So what can we expect in 2008? Hopefully we'll continue to see all those company make advances towards their OLED TV goals. Sony will be interesting to watch, as they didn't yet announce any definite dates for a larger, and better priced television. We should also be looking for larger (>3") AMOLED panel being produced an incorporated into devices such as PDAs and A/V players. With any luck we might be hearing of medium-sized panels (~10") being made, and perhaps even used in small laptop computers. Obviously we need to see a huge drop in prices - so perhaps 2008 is a bit optimistic for an OLED laptop that's really competitive.




Read the full story Posted: Dec 01,2007

Canon to take majority stake in Tokki for $69 mln

Canon said it aims to take a majority stake in Tokki, a supplier of flat panel-making equipment, for $69 million or more to speed development of OLED panels.

Canon has been developing OLED panels in a bid to replace liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, which it now procures from outside suppliers for digital camera, camcorder and printer displays. Canon said it may offer small-sized flat TVs using OLED displays in the future, and will use SED for large-sized TVs.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 14,2007

Canon and Toshiba delay SED TVs again

Canon and Toshiba have been developing their SED technology since 1999 and the launch had originally been delayed until July 2007. That date has now slipped to the end of 2007.

Canon blamed part of the delay on the falling price of flat-panel TVs and said it needed to improve the efficiency of its mass production facilities.

 

Read the full story Posted: May 29,2007

More SED delays - Judge rules in favor of Nano Proprietary

A Texan judge ruled in a summary judgment that Canon did indeed violate the terms of the technology licensing agreement with Nano-Proprietary by bringing Toshiba in as a partner in SED manufacturing. The court has yet to determine what damage this has caused, but at this point a monetary fine may not be the worst of what Canon will undergo in continuing in SED production.

Unless Canon is successful in appealing the judgment, the company will have to renegotiate a new licensing agreement for Nano-Proprietary's technology if it is going to continue with plans to produce SED displays. With Canon now on the defensive it remains to be seen how aggressively Nano-Proprietary will leverage its apparent legal advantage. Regardless, the recent ruling will likely lead Canon to pause its plans for SED manufacturing yet again.

 
Read the full story Posted: Feb 25,2007

Canon to buy Toshiba's part of SED Inc.

Canon and Toshiba today announced an agreement by which Canon will purchase from Toshiba all of Toshiba's outstanding shares of SED Inc., which was jointly established by both companies. On completion of the purchase, SED Inc. will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon, effective January 29, 2007.


The decision was reached following discussions between Canon and Toshiba based on the assumption of prolonged litigation pending against Canon in the United States with respect to SED technology. As a result of the discussions, it was decided that Canon will carry out the SED panel business independently in order to facilitate the earliest possible launch of a commercial SED television business.


SED television sets are to be introduced in Japan in the fourth quarter of this year as originally scheduled, although Canon will reassess its future mass-production plans for SED panels.

Read the full story Posted: Jan 12,2007

Canon showcases a digital SLR camera prototype with OLED display

Canon has demonstrated a prototype digital SLR camera using an OLED display, which will help extend battery life and be easier for photographers to view. Unlike traditional LCD screens, which use coloured filters and a backlight, an OLED generates its own light. This improves the screen's viewing angles and lowers power consumption, both of which are very useful for digital cameras.

Canon’s OLED demonstration used a 2.4" screen with QVGA (320 x 240) resolution, which delivered a bright and detailed image with 167 pixels per inch (ppi).

Read the full story Posted: Oct 11,2005

Canon to enter TV panel market

Canon, the world's largest maker of cameras and copiers, is to enter the TV panel market next year and expand its overall business to generate more than €40 billion ($A63.4 billion) in annual sales by 2010.

Canon would be working on developing three types of display technologies: SED panels, organic light-emitting diode displays (OLED) and projection displays.

Canon is aiming to use OLED panels in its digital cameras, printers and camcorders from 2007 as replacement for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).

Read more here

Read the full story Posted: Oct 06,2005

Canon, Toshiba to start SED production this week

A joint venture established by Canon and Toshiba to develop and commercialize a new flat-panel display technology called SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) will begin trial production of displays this week.

SED technology has been under development for more than 20 years and is being positioned by Canon and Toshiba as a better option for large-screen TVs than PDP (plasma display panel) technology. SED panels can produce pictures that are as bright as CRTs (cathode ray tubes), use up to one-third less power than equivalent size PDPs and don't have the slight time delay sometimes seen with some other flat-panel displays, according to the companies.Canon and Toshiba are hoping to see the first SED televisions available in Japan sometime in the first half of next year.
But before those TVs can come to market the companies must be able to mass produce the SED panels.

As part of their work towards this goal they established SED Inc. in October last year and committed ¥200 billion (US$1.8 billion) towards SED research, development, production and marketing.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 23,2005