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OLED, QLED, Microled and LCD at CES 2019 - Bigger & Better

1/14/2019

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Global manufacturers showcased their latest products and prototypes at CES 2019 giving a glimpse of what the future would bring. This year the focus was on AI, 5G and connected living.
AI will be making devices smarter, better and simpler to use, while 5G will empower connected devices with high speed and low latency. Display technology such as OLED, QLED, MicroLED and even LCD will be an integral part of this connected world by pushing their performance and capabilities to meet next generation product requirements.


TV – Rollable, Modular, Massive 8K, Better 4K
TV manufacturers embraced AI platforms (Alexa, Google Assistant, Bixby, and others) by embedding it into their TV products. Also, big TV companies such as Sony, LG, Vizio and others announced that their TVs would work with Apple AirPlay in 2019. Samsung TVs will get screen versions of iTune movies and TV apps. Companies are also using AI capabilities such as deep learning to enhance content and improve picture quality.

Rollable TV: OLED Shines
LG Electronics redefined TV space with differentiated design by introducing the first rollable OLED TV R, expected to launch commercially in spring 2019. The LG signature 65" OLED 4K TV R can rise up and roll down with switch of a button, hiding the display in the body of a Dolby sound bar. It can also transform itself with three different viewing options:
  • full view (large screen viewing),
  • line view (partial viewing for information mode) and
  • zero view (hidden).
This is truly differentiated design coming to the TV market, which was only made possible by the flexibility of OLED display technology. LG has already introduced the OLED TV W, wallpaper TV that can roll up or roll out. LG Display is the only volume production manufacturer of OLED TV displays.
OLED has gained strong presence in the premium TV market by differentiated design, deeper black, and superior wide viewing angle and color contrast. LG Electronics is the most successful TV brand using LG Display’s OLED TV panels. Brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Skyworth, TPV, Hisense, Konka and others have joined in the OLED TV market using LG Display’s panel. LG also showed an 88-inch 8K OLED TV with higher processing power and picture quality at CES.


Modular design: Enabled by MicroLED
Samsung showcased the flexibility of modular designs for TV with its 75" MicroLED TV and 219" “The Wall” TVs as well as other sizes and configurations. Samsung has made technical advancements in ultra-fine pitch semiconductor packaging process (that narrows the gap between the microscopic LED chips) enabled it to create 4K MicroLED display in a smaller 75" form factor.
MicroLEDs are self-emissive displays featuring millions of inorganic red, green and blue microscopic LED chips that emit their own light. The technology can scale to higher resolutions and support different aspect ratios. In theory, MicroLED displays are capable of very high brightness, high contrast ratio, wide color gamut, fast response time, low power, high flexibility and higher transparency. However, it is still extremely challenging to manufacture, scale and bring to market at a competitive cost.

Massive 8K: QLED, LCD and OLED
Samsung unveiled its 98-inch QLED Quantum Dot (QD) based 8K TV adding to its line up of 65", 75", 82" and 85" sets. Samsung QLED TVs have been in the forefront, serving the premium market. TCL also announced an 8K QLED TV. Quantum dots (QD) can really empower LCD TV by enabling higher brightness (4000 cd/m² and above) and a significant increase in the color gamut (supporting more than 90% BT 2020).
LCD TVs have pushed their performance to ever-higher levels with QD display technology and direct full array blinking backlights and 8K resolution providing higher color gamut and deeper colour depth and details. Sony showcased 85" and 98" 8K LCD.
Beside very high prices for these massive sizes, there are also issues of 8K content availability. Companies are using AI-based technology to recognize and up-scale any content (regardless of the native resolution) to 8K. Leading display technology brands announced the recently formed 8K Association at CES to help develop the ecosystem. 8K TVs are going to be commercially available in 2019 and Samsung’s 65" is expected to sell at around $5000.


Brighter better 4K TV: QD, HDR, and FLAD (Full Array Local dimming)
Companies also showed their latest 4K TVs with QD backlight technology, higher peak brightness, HDR, FLAD, a higher number of local dimming zones, and higher refresh rate capabilities. 4K content is also increasingly available. Vizio showcased its series of 65" and 75" P series QD 4K HDR smart TVs (with brightness up to 2900 cd/m²) with expansive colors and deeper blacks. Vizio is also bringing Quantum Dot technology to more of a mainstream market by offering more competitive prices (65" at $1399 during the holiday season) in a variety of products (43" to 65").
Hisense is expected to offer a 65-inch QD TV at a $1,000 price in 2019 bringing it closer to the mainstream level. It got great attention by showing its ULED XD TV using two LCD panel (one 4K module and another 1080p gray scale panel) and Quantum Dot technology to achieve deeper black and higher brightness (2900 cd/m²). This technology has been used before in professional environments but not in consumer products (If One LCD is Not Enough, Try Two).


LG showed a 75" 8K LCD TV renamed as nano-cell TV due to its wide color gamut nano-cell technology (Palomaki and Bertram Uncover LG's "Nano Cell" Secret). Companies in China such as BOE, China Star and others are bringing in massive 10.5 Gen and higher LCD capacity over the next three to four years that are optimized for 65" and above sized TV panels. This will result in more aggressive pricing for the TV panels in 2019, leading to a faster shift to larger size TVs.


Monitor: Super Size for Gaming
Super size monitors were also showcased at CES, specially for gaming applications. Dell demonstrated a prototype of 55" UHD (3840 x 2160) OLED display (120Hz refresh rate) with very high contrast and fast response time for gamers. HP showed a 65" 4K-Quantum Dot enhanced LCD BFGD (Big Format Gaming Display) integrated with G-sync and an Nvidia Shield. It is expected to be available in Q1 for $4,999. Also Razor got high attention with 27-inch IPS monitor with (2560x 1440) pixel format and 144Hz refresh rate. Samsung showed a high performance space monitor: 27-inch QHD and 32-inch 4KUHD. LG display was showing a 27" UltraHD monitor with an oxide backplane.

Auto: Connected Driving, Bigger, Curvier and Higher performance
Connected driving was a major focus at CES. The emerging 5G technology is expected to be integrated to connected auto concept and design. Samsung and Harman showcased its “digital cockpit 2019”, offering enhanced connected car experience focused on connectivity, personalization and safety. It has six auto displays based on different technology including LCD, OLED, and QLED. Passenger displays were 12.2" OLEDs. The general trend for auto display is bigger, curvier, higher performance and free-form to integrate with car interior design. In-cell touch solutions will provide thinner panels for design freedom.
Harman's “in-vehicle infotainment system” features an integrated smartphone and connectivity with other devices. Besides Carplay and Android auto, it also included AI support such as Alexa, Google and Bixby. Byton, a startup from China showcased a concept car with curved 48" wrap-around display that stretches across the dashboard and a smaller screen integrated into steering wheel.


Smartphone: bigger, better, foldable
Motorola showed 5G capable smartphones with 6" OLED displays. LG and Huawei showed smartphones with 6.x and 6.x OLED respectively. Royole showcased the first foldable smartphone “FlexPai” that unfolds to an 8" tablet. Samsung has announced (at its Developer Conference 2018) its plan to start mass production of its first foldable smartphone in 2019.
Also companies such as Huawei, LG, Google, Lenovo and others are planning to introduce foldable smartphones in the future. Foldable smartphone prices are expected to be in the range of $1500 to $2500, which are substantially higher than current high end user prices. There are still many challenges including process technology, materials, manufacturing issues, high capex, higher costs, durability of the products, design acceptance, and consumer willingness to pay higher prices for the new designs.
Display technology such as OLED, QLED, MicroLED and LCD are introducing bigger and better products to meet next generation requirements, but high price, manufacturing challenges and other issues may keep many of these products out of the mainstream market in the near term. 
Sweta Dash

Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insight.com
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Top Display Technology Trends for 2019

1/13/2019

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It is the time of the year to look forward to the industry trends for 2019.

Foldable Display – starting a new era
After the long wait, foldable display era will be finally starting in 2019. Samsung has announced (Developer Conference 2018) its plan to start mass production of its first foldable smartphone in 2019. The company showcased its “Infinity Flex Display” foldable smartphone display with a cover display (4.5") and a main display (7.3"). A big advantage of a foldable display is the ability to have “a thin light larger screen size display in a smaller form factor”. According to Samsung, they used an ultra thin polarizer, which was 45% thinner than the previous version to create a flexible and durable display that can be folded and unfolded more than 100K times.  Samsung replaced the cover glass with a flexible polymer cover film and used a new type of adhesive.

Royole has also showcased a foldable smartphone, “FlexPai”, with an outward fold (not an inward fold like Samsung), that unfolds to a tablet. Also companies such as Huawei, LG, Google, Lenovo and others are planning to introduce foldable smartphones. BOE and Visionox have also shown prototypes. Foldable smartphone prices are expected to be in the range of $1500 to $2500, which is substantially higher than current high end prices. There are still many challenges including process technology, materials, manufacturing issues, high capex, higher costs, durability of the products, design acceptance, and consumer willingness to pay higher prices for the new designs.


Foldable smartphones will dazzle the market with technology breakthrough and new form factors, but high price and complex manufacturing process will limit demand and unit shipments in 2019.

Flexible Display - strong presence and higher market share
Flexible OLED is expected to gain market share in the smartphone market due to its ability to offer innovative design differentiation. Apple’s iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy smartphones are helping flexible OLED volume growth. Chinese brands, influenced by Apple, have started to adopt OLED displays for their smartphone models. The trend towards “full screen” format also requires super narrow bezel or bezel-less designs and flexible OLED is more suitable for “ full screen” designs. Sony, Huawei, HTC, ZTE and many others have introduced smartphones based on flexible OLEDs with diagonals above 6". 

Samsung was the top flexible OLED display supplier with very high volume production and market share. Its fabs faced lower utilization rates in 2018 due to slower iPhone sales than hoped for. LGD, BOE, Tianma and others are increasing production in 2019. This will help to reduce prices and increase market shares.

Complex manufacturing process, lower yield rates and other challenges will keep cost at a higher level in 2019. Even though the potential future of next generation flexible and foldable displays is very promising, higher performance and differentiated form factor will not be enough; it has to be combined with more competitive prices if flexible display is to dominate the mature smartphone market.


OLED display – higher market shares
OLED display technology is in the forefront for flexible and foldable display. OLED displays are ready to excel in next generation smartphones by bringing in thinner, lighter, lower power and higher performance products with differentiated designs and form factors.

Rigid OLED display cost has the potential to come closer to LTPS LCD’s cost level. But, there is very little design differentiation between LTPS LCD and rigid OLED smartphones.

Chinese suppliers including BOE, Tianma, and many others are bringing in OLED capacity. Many suppliers including Universal Display, Cynora, Kulux and others are working towards improving the efficiency, resolutions, lifetime and costs. Combined with printable OLED manufacturing capabilities, they have the potential to enable lower-cost displays, although that will take a few more years.

OLED has secured a strong presence in the premium TV market because of picture quality, design differentiation, perfect black and an infinite contrast ratio. LG Electronics is the most successful brand with LG Display’s OLED TV panels. Other brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Skyworth, TPV, Hisense, Konka and others have joined in, using LG Display’s panel. LGD is converting LCD TV capacity to OLED TV and may be accelerating its plans to develop 10.5G fab capacity. Ink jet printing (IJP) can offer lower manufacturing cost due to lower capex, lower material cost from simple structure and color filter elimination. But the lifetime of soluble blue OLED needs improvement.


OLED display will take more market share away from LCD and increase its presence in the smartphone, TV, AR/VR and smartwatch markets. It will also open up new opportunities in automotive, tablet, notebook and other applications

LCD technology - lower market share with continued dominance
LCD will continue to lose market share, especially in the small and medium display market to OLED. Strong competition has also impacted LCD’s profitability resulting in fab closures (especially for a-Si LCD). The market has moved towards LTPS LCD and OLED display in the smartphone market.

Companies such as AUO, Tianma, BOE, JDI, Sharp and others have invested in 6th Gen LTPS capacity. Higher capacity, fierce competition and a slow down in the smartphone market, combined with Apple’s adoption of flexible OLED display, have resulted in aggressive price reductions. These reductions have enabled the technology to meet mid-range product price points. In 2018, LTPS LCD fab utilization has been higher than OLED as they meet the lower price point requirements of the smartphone market with more advanced features. This has enabled some Chinese brands to gain market share. In spite of expected major unit market share gain by OLED, LCD will continue to be dominant in terms of units in 2019.

Companies in China such as BOE, China Star and others are bringing in massive 10.5 Gen and higher LCD capacity over the next three to four years that are optimized for 65" and above size TV panels. This will result in more aggressive price reductions for TV panels in 2019, leading to a shift to larger size TVs. 2018 saw the introduction of more 8K TVs. Manufacturers will bring 8K TV to drive replacement demand. QD technology and mini LED backlight can also help LCD to reduce performance gap with OLED and even exceed performance in certain segments. This will enable LCD technology to keep TV market dominance in 2019 and beyond.


MiniLED backlight – entering the market
MiniLED can help LCD performance by improving contrast ratio, increasing color gamut, reducing response time, and increasing brightness. It can also be combined with direct backlight and local area dimming, to provide very high contrast and better HDR performance. Performance can even improve further with the use of quantum dot (QD) technology. However, higher cost is a major issue.

A higher number of MiniLED chips can enable better picture quality but may lead to higher costs. MiniLED TV is expected to come in 2019, but it may be 2020 or even later before significant cost reductions can be achieved.

For smartphones, MiniLED backlight can empower LTPS LCD by offering higher contrast by supporting local dimming, higher brightness and faster response time. Suppliers will really need to reduce costs and increase production in order to exploit this small window of opportunity in 2019 and beyond.


Quantum Dot technology - higher growth potential
QD can really empower LCD TV by enabling higher brightness (4000 cd/m² and above) and a significant increase in the color gamut (supporting more of BT 2020). It can bring LCD TV performance closer to OLED and can even exceed it in certain areas such as brightness.
In recent years, there have been various QD technologies and applications available or under development for display (QDEF replacement films, QD on glass light guide plate, QD color convertor replacing color filters, and Electro Emissive QD).

Samsung QLED TVs have been in the forefront, serving the premium market. In 2018, prices have come down. Chinese brands, TCL and Hisense have also joined in. Very high 10.5 Gen fab larger size LCD capacity fabs are coming in 2019 that can help to reduce QD-based LCD TV costs, leading to higher adoption rates.

Samsung Display is building a pilot production facility for QD OLED (with QDCC), which will start production in 2019. It simplifies the panel structure and fabrication process and eliminates shadow mask patterning. However the process needs highly efficient blue OLED materials with a long lifetime. This can open up new opportunities for QD. QDs can improve MicroLED manufacturing process and yield.


MicroLED - coming to market
MicroLED displays are capable of very high brightness, high contrast ratio, wide color gamut, fast response time, low power, high flexibility and higher transparency. It still has many manufacturing challenges that need to be resolved. Manufacturers are planning to focus more on automotive, VR, wearable and indoor cinema applications before trying to focus on mainstream general applications such as TV, laptops or smartphones. MicroLED based display devices are expected in 2019 for AR/VR and wearable market. - Sweta Dash

You might want to look back at Sweta's 
2018 article. 
Sweta Dash, President, Dash-Insights
Sweta Dash is the founding president of Dash-Insights, a market research and consulting company specializing in the display industry. For more information, contact sweta@dash-insights.com or visit www.dash-insight.com
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    Sweta Dash, Founder/President, Dash-Insights

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