idtechex research: the rise of plastic and flexible oled displays

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The Rise of Plastic and Flexible OLED DisplaysJune 2016

Dr Guillaume ChansinSenior Technology Analyst, IDTechEx Research


idtechex.com/researchMarket reports

• Players in the OLED value chain who need detailedmarket forecasts

• End users who wish to incorporate plastic and flexibledisplays in their products

• Investors who want a complete overview of the OLEDdisplay market

OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026: The Rise of Plastic and Flexible DisplaysTechnology analysis and detailed forecasts by market segment and display type

Published May 2016

The report will be useful to:

http://www.idtechex.com/displays

http://www.idtechex.com/QD


OLED v.s. LCD

Source: LG Display

No backlight unit

Most displays on the market are based on LCD (but often mislabelled as “LED”)

LCD is a transmissive display technology. It requires a backlight.

OLED is an emissive technology. Light comes from thin films of electroluminescent organic materials.

OLED does not require any backlight and therefore can be much thinner than LCD.

OLED displays made with TFT backplanes are called AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED)


Evolution of OLED in the display industry

� Early years: small PMOLED displays (mobile phones, music players)

� ~2008: Smartphone displays (AMOLED) from Samsung SDC

� Now: TVs, Tablets and Wearables

� 4th wave: Flexible displays and printed TVs


Samsung Display plans to invest 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) to expand OLED productionThe new production line will mainly make medium and small-sized OLED displays for consumer electronics devices like smartphones and tablets. The investment will be made from 2015 to 2017

LG Display said it will invest more than 10 trillion won ($8.71 billion) to build a large plant to make OLED panelsInitial 1.84 trillion won will be spent for the construction of new plant in PajuProduction is expected to begin in the first half of 2018Plan is to make panels across all product segments including large screens for TVs and flexible OLED panels for devices such as smartwatches and auto displays.

Large investment in OLED announced last year


The total market for OLED displays is expected to reach $16 billion in 2016

Biggest segment is currently mobile phones

Will grow to $57 billion by 2026

The market for OLED displays

Source: IDTechEx report “OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026”


http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/oled-display-forecasts-2016-2026-the-rise-of-plastic-and-flexible-displays-000477.asp


12 inch tablet from Samsung now availableNotebooks and monitors have been announcedVirtual Reality headsets are based on OLED

Product trends in 2016: Bigger, better, faster

Galaxy TabPro S (12 inch)

HP Spectre x360 (13.3 inch)

Dell UltraSharp 30

Sony Playstation VR


Better viewing angle?

Better colors?

Better contrast?

Lower power consumption?

Faster refresh rate

Form factor (thin, curved and flexible)

Why choose OLED over LCD?

PS Vita LCD and OLED versions(Source: YouTube)


Replace the glass substrate with a plastic material and use thin film encapsulationIt is possible to make display panels that are 0.3mm to 0.5mm thick Not yet fully flexible

First step towards flexible: OLED on plastic substrate

Source: LG DisplayPhoto: IDTechEx


Samsung Galaxy Note Edge launched in Sept 2014: had a wrap-around OLED display (rigid plastic) with a 7 mm bending radius at the sharpest point.Latest Samsung flagship phone has dual edge display

Plastic OLED now in premium smart phones

Source: Samsung


Strong growth for plastic and flexible displays

The market for plastic and flexible AMOLED panels will reach $18bn by 2020

This corresponds to 42% of total OLED display revenues in 2020

Current applications are primarily mobile phones and wearable devices

Source: IDTechEx report “OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026”




Apple says the Watch has a “flexible Retina display” (does not officially say it is OLED)

The Watch has a plastic OLED with a glass or sapphire front cover

Plastic OLED offers several advantages in a watch:o Thinner than LCD or glass-based OLED (which leaves more space for

the battery)o OLED consumes very little power when just turning on a few pixels (ideal

for showing the time or notifications)o Gives a jewellery appearance without the typical bright rectangle of LCD.

Items seem to be floating inside the watch.

Most of these features would also be beneficial in a future iPhone

Case study: the Apple Watch

Photo: IDTechEx


The Moto X Force (a.k.a Droid Turbo 2) comes with a shatterproof screen.Combine a plastic OLED display with a plastic front cover: the screen is entirely glass freeThe front cover can be replaced by the owner if there are too many scratchesThe screens also includes a dual touch layer: “In the event of an impact that damages the primary touch-sensitive layer, a second layer takes over to maintain touchscreen performance.”

Case study: Motorola shatterproof screen

Source: Motorola


Foldable devices will make it easier to carry a large displaySome working devices have already been demonstratedExample: 8.7” foldable display with touch sensor, 0.1 mm thick, made by SEL in Japan

Future form factors: foldable display

Photo: IDTechExSource: Samsung


This year, Samsung Display demonstrated a 5.7” rollable OLED display

10 mm curvature radius

Full HD resolution

Thickness is 0.3 mm and weight is 5g

Samsung recently demonstrated a rollable display

Source: YouTube (OLED-info)


OLED is here to stay! Total market for OLED displays will grow to $57bn over the next decade

The rise of plastic and flexible displays is the most important trend and is disrupting the display industry

New manufacturing techniques have enabled mass production of the first generation of plastic OLED displays

Korean manufacturers are making considerable investment in production capacity for plastic and flexible displays. This market will reach $18bn by 2020.

Future flexible displays will make foldable devices a reality

Summary




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