The OLED-Info newsletter (May 2, 2023)

Jeff Yurek is a former creative professional turned marketer passionate about storytelling and technology. He is currently Vice President of Marketing at Nanosys, Inc. in Silicon Valley, Calif., and serves as the Vice Chair of Marketing for the Society for Information Display. Here's an interview we conducted with Jeff towards Display Week 2023.

Hello Jeff! Can you tell us what to expect from SID Display Week 2023? 

Display Week is the best place to experience and learn about cutting-edge display technologies and applications. The program for Display Week 2023 is packed as always with valuable courses, technical talks, business presentations, and amazing technology demos.

Researchers from Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that OLED devices can be used to detect and map magnetic fields using magnetic resonance. The OLED is used to create a simple device, that does not need lasers like other methods used today.

Image

This is still early research, but it could lead to the development of an OLED-based magnetic sensor, that is much cheaper and portable compared to current MRI devices. The method the researchers used is based on electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), and is based on the change in spin behavior of electrons that are close to magnetic fields

DSCC says that BOE's market share in the flexible (and foldable) smartphone OLED market has risen to 27% in Q1 2023. BOE flexible and foldable OLED panel sales grew 81% in Q1 2023 compared to last  year, as the company enjoys growing sales to Apple, Huawei, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and ZTE. BOE is mostly taking market share from Samsung and LG, while Tianma's market share is also on the rise.

Image

DSCC estimates that flagship smartphone shipments grew 17% in the first quarter, with flexible OLED smartphone shipments growing 18% and foldable ones growing 4%.

LG Display reported its financial results for Q1 2023, with revenues of 4,411 billion Won ($3.3 billion USD), down 40% from the previous quarter and 32% from 2022.

Image

The company says there is 'sluggish demand' for TV and IT products. The company plans to focus on automotive displays, smartphone OLEDs and IT OLEDs (mid-sized panels). LG also aims to increase its sales of OLED gaming monitor panels and transparent OLED displays.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Future Interfaces Group (FIG) designed a new haptic screen technology, which they call Flat Panel Haptics, that uses embedded electroosmotic pumps (EEOPs) that can move liquids quickly using electrical fields. 

The whole haptic layer is thin (just 1.5 mm thick) and can be placed behind a flexible OLED display to create an useful haptic display, as can be seen in the video above - buttons or keys can pop-up from the screen, and the interface can take advantage of shaped icons (like a play button or a stop button). Currently the shapes are pre-defined and cannot be altered by the user, but in the future this may change if the FPH technology is used to create small dot-matrix items.

The trade war between the US and China escalates, an the US is mostly focused on restricting semiconductor equipment, materials and chips sales to China as its sees semiconductors as a crucial strategic technology.

According to new reports, the US is now considering adding display technologies, mostly OLEDs, to the list of restricted technologies and may ask Japan and Korea to stop selling materials and equipment to Chinese display makers. 

In case you missed it, here are some recent and popular OLED stories that you may find of interest:

• DSCC: OLED revenues to decline 7% in 2023, due to low demand for TVs and smartphones
• JOLED files for bankruptcy, Japan Display to take over assets
• Apple to switch to OLED displays in almost all of its tablets, laptops and monitors by 2027
• Samsung Display to invest $3.1 billion to convert an LCD fab to an IT 8.5-Gen AMOLED line
• HKC to start making eLEAP AMOLED displays in collaboration with Japan Display
• Samsung and LG are again negotiating a WOLED TV panel supply agreement
• Buick announces a new electric car with a 30-inch 6K OLED display
• APS manages to produce a 3000 PPI direct-emission FMM OLED display
• LG confirms its latest OLED TV panels use microlens arrays, brands it as META Technology
• Is current OLED architecture obsolete? An interview with the head of the Max Planck Institute
• Universal Display and Samsung Display sign a long-term material supply agreement
• KT&T developed a full-color OLED microdisplay with a brightness of 12,000 nits
• LG Display to start producing mid-size WOLED panels as demand for TVs declines
• LGE starts shipping a 42" bendable OLED monitor/TV
• LG Display plans a new automotive OLED production line
• OLED Microdisplays in China - industry snapshot October 2022
• UDC says it will have a commercial blue PHOLED emitter by 2024