Musing From an OLED Advocate

Musing Commentary on May 15, 2022
SID’s 60th Anniversary – Optimism in the Face of Falling Panel Prices, Demand and Profitability
 
Ross Young, CEO of DSCC started the Business Conference with a message that the last 2 years saw record breaking revenues, shipments and profits, but warned that it would take four years before  the industry returned to 2021 performance. The good news is that for the first time ever, there are two strong technologies and a third on-the-way. Given the competition, both LCDs and OLEDs are upping their game as MiniLEDs are raising the price point and the performance level of several products, while after 20-years, OLEDs are hitting their stride having enabled new rollable and foldable formats, a doubling of performance and nearing a solution to the ”blue” problem.
 
Display Industry’s Record 2021 to be Followed by 2022 Hit by Geopolitical and Excess Capacity
 
Young’s keynote reiterated our point that 2022 would be a negative growth year, diminished by too much large area capacity growth in China causing a drop in panel prices without an offsetting increase in demand because of unprecedented 2021 TVs and IT panel buying. Young further laid the blame on inflation, slowdowns in China, the cost and transport increases caused by the supply chain crisis and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict, which is lowering demand, causing a shortfall in wheat, other staples and minerals, where these two countries provide a preponderance of the supply. But while LCDs will fall in revenue and shipment volume, OLEDs are expected to thrive in smartphones, TVs and IT, leading to an assessment that the industry is now bifurcated, where OLEDs lead in the high-end, LCDs hold force in the Medium to Low End and MiniLEDs are in the middle targeting the high end with less performance but higher costs than OLEDs. In the 1st Keynote, LG’s CTO Soo-Young Yoon pointed out how OLEDs outperform LCDs, but could very well have claimed victory for the technology while looking forward to the challenge of MicroLEDs. 

Negotiation for WOLED Panels Between Samsung and LG

Samsung’s Visual Display unit in 2022 needs more OLEDs panels then Samsung Display can provide and LGD has the ability to produce more WOLED panels than are currently planned, so it seems like a good match. But the negotiations between SEC's VD and LGD have been going on for at least 18 months and they can’t agree on a price. VD’s option if the price is not low enough is to increase the sales of the Mini LED TVs, and maximize the purchasing volume of the QD-OLED from SDC. 

Leftovers
Royale Bailed Out for the Short Term by Local Governments_05/15/22
Foxconn Expects A Revenue Decline In Q222 Due To Rising Inflation, Slowing Demand And Covid-Related Lockdowns _05/15/22
Musing on Meta Verse
Metaverse-Magic Leap_05/15/22
Musing on Materials
Drivers for OLED Smartphones to Reach Parity w/LCDs by End of 2022_04/10/22​
Musing on MicroLEDs
​MicroLED Displays at Touch Taiwan from 121” to 0.39” w/50K nits_05/08/22
Musing on Production
Tianma’s New G8.6 LCD Panel Production TM19 _05/15/22
Musing on Competitive Technology
Musing on Competitive Technology-MicroLEDs_05/15/22
​Musing on Technology
​New Photodiodes Developed to Capture Image Data for Holograms_05/08/22
Automotive
AUO Looks to Automotive Apps as an Off Ramp from Slowing Large Area Business_05/01/22
IT
Concept LG Display Appears Like A Scroll, Looks Great In Matte Finish_05/15/22
Smartphones
Apple Foldable iPhone Could Launch In 2023 _05/15/22
Apple iPhone 14 Max: Specifications surface for $899 smartphone with a 90 Hz OLED display and 6 GB of RAM_05/15/22
Nothing Phone 1 Specifications Detailed_05/15/22
Sharps Aquos R7 Delivers 456 ppi with IGZO Backplane_05/15/22
Lenovo to Release New Motorola Razr 2022_05/15/22
TVs
Samsung’s 2022 Roll Out of WOLED TVs in Jeopardy Due to Lack of Closure in Negotiations_05/08/22
VR/AR
​
Mojo Vision Announces Mojo Lens Prototype, The World's First Smart Contact Lens_05/08/22
Wearables
Apple Targets Watch Blood-Pressure Tool for 2024 After Snags_04/24/22​

Q3'2021 Updated Data 

Any Questions, Please Contact Us at sungeun@oled-a.org