TCL

UBI Research released its latest foldable OLED shipments forecast, saying that it expects the market to grow from 27.4 million units in 2024 to 52.7 million 2028.

The market is dominated by Samsung Display, which shipped 13.4 million foldable OLEDs in 2023, and holds a 61% market. Samsung is followed by BOE (6.2 million, growing 3X from 2022), TCL CSOT (1.1 million) and Visionox (1.1 million). UBI expects Samsung Display to remain the clear leader in this market as it is the sole supplier to Samsung Electronics - and it is also expected that Samsung will be the exclusive supplier to Apple's future foldable iPhones.

A report from China suggests that TCL CSOT is looking into building a 8.6-Gen AMOLED production line, targeting IT display production. According to the report, TCL will announce its investment plan later in 2024, if it decides to go ahead with the new fab.

The IT display market (targeting laptops, monitors and tablets) is heating up as Apple will start to adopt AMOLED displays in its tablets this year. Apple's market pull is significant and other vendors will likely increase adoption of IT AMOLEDs. 

TCL is demonstrating a new 14" 4K 120Hz flexible AMOLED display that adopts a tandem display structure. The tandem structures enabled a reduction in power consumption of over 30%, an extension of the display's lifetime (3.5X) and a peak brightness of over 2,500 nites.

TCL was also showing a new 6.36" 1200x2670 LTPO AMOLED display, that features the company's new frequency division technology and self-developed frequency scanning circuits. Coupled with an ultra-low power consumption IC, it offers 15-20% power savings compared to TCL's standard AMOLEDs. 

TCL CSoT demonstrated several OLED displays at CES 2024. first up we have an automotive 10.1” transparent OLED display, that offers 52% transparency. CSoT says that this is a "Smart Transparent" display, although it's not clear what is meant by that exactly.

The second display is a 14" 2.8K (2880x1800, 240 PPI) inkjet printed hybrid OLED. This is the first time that CSoT has printed a laptop AMOLED display. It uses an IGZO (Oxide-TFT) backplane, and offer a variable refresh rate (30-120Hz) to expand the battery life. This display was first shown last month, when TCL stated it is on track to start mass producing OLEDs using an inkjet printing process in the second half of 2024.

TCL CSoT says that it will start producing OLED displays using an inkjet printing process in the second half of 2024. This is excellent news and good to know CSoT is still on track for initial production in 2024. The company says it will first target the IT and medical sector. 

The company says that the cost of producing OLEDs using its inkjet printed panels will be lower compared to the currently-used FMM based method, and its OLEDs will offer superior performance (in lifetime, mostly) as its process enables higher aperture.

Inkjet printing pioneer JOLED has filed for bankruptcy, following many years of struggles to increase production capacity and revenues.  According to earlier reports from Japan, display maker Japan Display will take over JOLED technology and remaining operations.

There are now reports from Korea that suggest that TCL's CSoT is considering buying JOLED's OLED production equipment, and moving it to China to attempt OLED production in-house using inkjet printing. If this plan goes through, the plan is to initiate production in 2024. It's not clear whether CSoT is in talks with JDI, or whether JDI did not take over the equipment from JOLED.

TCL CSoT had several interesting new OLED demonstrations at SID DisplayWeek 2023, all of which were produced by inkjet printing, which shows the company's commitment to the new production process.

First up is the company latest inkjet-printed panel, this time CSoT showed a 8K (7680 × 4320) 65" TV panel that is foldable (with a bending radius of 25 mm). The panel offers a peak brightness of 800 nits, a response time of under 1 ms and a refresh rate of 120Hz.

Most analysts seem to agree that global demand for OLED displays is set to slow down in 2023. DSCC says that revenues will decrease 7% in 2023, led by a drop in demand for OLED smartphone and TV displays. Omdia also agrees, saying that OLED fab utilization remains low.

China-based Sigmaintaell, meanwhile, is optimistic on China's own OLED industry, expecting production to jump 40% in 2023. Sigmaintell says that Chinese phone makers are increasing their adoption of OLED displays in high-end and mid-range models. The company's analysts expect over 220 million Chinese OLED panels to ship in 2023, and China's OLED market share to rise to 38%, up from 28% in 2021.

Update: TCL says it issued that statement by mistake, and it has no current plans to ship a QD-OLED TV in 2023

TCL announced that it is set to launch its first QD-OLED TV in the coming months. If all goes according to plan, TCL will be the third company (following Samsung and Sony) to offer QD-OLED TVs.

That's the only information we have so far. The TV will likely be offered in 55-inch, 65-inch and/or 77-inch sizes (the available QD-OLED panels today) with a 4K resolution and a refresh rate of 144Hz. That's the current QD-OLED standard.

TCL CSoT says that it has developed a new hinged-pixel design that can enable uniform stretchable displays.

The idea is to connect adjacent pixels with flexible hinges, so that when the display is stretched, the hinges make sure the pixels retain a fixed distance between them. The company says that this design can remain uniform for up to 40% expansion.