Samsung, Even if OLED TV is Released, Different from LG

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Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

<LG Elec. is Introducing OLED TV in CES 2016>

 

Within the TV market, there is an opinion that even Samsung Electronics which believes it is not yet the time for OLED panel cannot continue to insist on LCD. Experts estimate that even if it is the same OLED TV, Samsung Elec. will differentiate the actualization method from competitors’ including LG Electronics. One of the possibilities suggested is Samsung’s selection of ink-jet printed OLED TV panel.

 

Hyun-Suk Kim, Samsung Elec. Visual Display department’s vice president, who recently announced new LCD based SUHD TV mentioned that OLED TV is premature and also needs technological improvements.

 

However, it looks to be difficult for Samsung to insist on LCD TV only in the long term. China is threatening Korean companies in LCD panel market with superior price competitiveness; there is too much risk for Korean display companies such as Samsung Display to invest further in LCD production line. Although Samsung Elec. is not receiving panel supply exclusively from Samsung Display, Samsung Display is the biggest supplier. Therefore, Samsung Display’s LCD investment reduction is also expected to affect Samsung Elec.’s TV business.

 

Furthermore, Samsung Elec. is in the position of having to emphasize OLED’s superior picture quality over LCD in smartphone business, but highlight the opposite in TV. This is also an issue that needs to be tackled.

 

Despite these issues, Samsung cannot easily start on OLED TV as several problems such as price competitiveness have not been solved.

 

<Hyun-Suk Kim, Samsung Elec.’s Vice President, is Introducing New SUHD TV>

 

◆ Ink-jet Printing, Can it Solve OLED for TV Price Issue?

 

According to Dong-won Kim, analyst with Hyundai Securities, Samsung Display, with Samsung Elec. as the biggest client, has unfavorable structure for reducing production cost as 65 inch OLED TV panel production efficiency is low in Gen8 line.

 

Kim estimated that Samsung Display will apply solution process ink-jet printing technology to OLED TV with 2018 mass production target in order to solve this problem.

 

When producing OLED TV panel, WRGB OLED method, which uses evaporation method, can only reduce production cost by certain amount as the material usage efficiency is low. On the other hand, ink-jet printing RGB technology finely deposits ink in liquid form and can reduce materials cost. Additionally, RGB OLED has fewer organic layers compared to WRGB OLED and processes can be decreased.

 

For these reasons, some believe that Samsung will select ink-jet printing method rather than evaporation for OLED TV in future. There is also a view that LG Display, which is currently using evaporation method, will also actively consider producing ink-jet printed OLED TV panel in the long term.

 

A display expert explained that although ink-jet printing processes are simpler than evaporation method, that does not necessarily mean materials cost is always cheaper. The ink-jet printing technology is not yet perfect, and particularly for blue the efficiency issue has not yet been solved.

 

He added that Samsung Elec. has strong tendency to differentiate itself from competitors such as LG, and even if Samsung Elec. releases OLED TV, it is likely that ink-jet printing, which is different from LG, will be the preferred method.

Why is ‘Cadmium-free’ Significant? Samsung’s Quantum Dot SUHD TV

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Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

<Samsung Elec. Released 2nd Generation Quantum Dot TV. Source: Samsung Elec.>

On the subject of Samsung Electronics’ 2nd generation quantum dot display equipped SUHD TV product, recently released in Korea, display experts consider the actualization of 1,000 nit without cadmium as the key strength.

 

In 2015, Samsung Elec. first launched quantum dot SUHD TV under the name nanocrystal technology. Each quantum dot of nanosize, 10,000 times narrower than a human hair, actualizes accurate color.

 

According to Samsung Elec., the 2nd generation quantum dot technology to produce this new product, an improvement over last year’s. The company emphasized that compared to the previous product, the price was reduced and brightness was improved. HDR (high dynamic range) with 1,000 nit maximum was applied to the new product.

 

The 1,000 nit brightness is the standard figure of premium image produced in Hollywood, US. If this figure is high, screen’s bright and dark areas can be experienced fully even in bright environment such as a living room area.

 

Although not applied to all models of Samsung’s 1st generation quantum dot SUHD TV, 1,000 nit brightness was applied to the majority of the models; that 1,000 nit brightness was applied to the new product is not worth much attention by itself.

 

<Samsung Elec.’s 1st Generation Quantum Dot TV vs. Other Display in CES 2015>

 

◆Hazardous Heavy Metal Cadmium, Why Difficult to Remove?

 

Quantum dot film includes cadmium. As cadmium is a hazardous heavy metal, cadmium including quantum dot film cannot be environmentally friendly. Cadmium use in Europe is limited.

 

However, without cadmium, the quantum dot film’s optical efficiency is reduced. In order to make up for this, LED chips have to be applied which increases the price as well as the energy consumption. An alternative method to avoid this is development of additional quantum dot materials that increase efficiency.

 

For these reasons, some Chinese companies that produce quantum dot display equipped products select to use cadmium, overlooking the environmental issues. Samsung Elec. also emphasized that it is the only company that utilizes environmentally friendly cadmium-free quantum dot materials.

 

Through quantum dot materials’ efficiency and color mapping algorithm improvement, Samsung actualized 1,000 nit brightness without resorting to cadmium and without increase in power consumption. Color accuracy, which is a quantum dot display trait, was also improved by 25%.

 

Samsung Elec. is planning to release 14 models of SUHD TV, from 49 inch to 88 inch, in Korea. This is over 30% increase compared to last year. The price also was reduced by 900,000 KRW compared to the previous version. The new products, depending on the specifications, cost around 6 million KRW for 65 inch, and 4 million KRW for 55 inch.

A comment from a display expert is, “the new product has 1,000 nit brightness is not significant by itself, and color accuracy improvement also is not of much attention as it is an existing quantum dot trait”. However, he also put another comment from his analysis, “1,000 nit brightness was actualized without using cadmium and without decreasing energy efficiency is worth noting”.

Samsung Electronics Unveils Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

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On February 21 (local time), Samsung Electronics held Samsung Galaxy Unpack 2016 event at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), Spain, and unveiled smartphone Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Gear 360, a camera that can film in 360°.

 

Koh Dongjin, Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications Business president, announced that at this important time of change in the mobile industry, Samsung Electronics will provide not only smartphone but also the comprehensive experience and value for the consumers through diverse products, contents, and service surrounding the smartphone. He added that the company will pay even more attention to the consumers in future and lead the mobile market through ceaseless challenges in new technology and areas.

 

4 items were much emphasized in Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Firstly, for the camera, the latest technology used in the top DSLR, dual pixel image sensor was applied to smartphone for the first time in the world. Particularly, the demonstration of Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge camera’s superiority through the comparison with iPhone 6S is analyzed to be a move to come ahead in the future competition with iPhone.

 

The second is the battery capacity. Despite that the embedded battery of S6 and S6 Edge was considered a great drawback, the same was applied to the most recent S7 and S7 Edge. However, the battery capacity increased by 38%, in the case of S7 Edge, with 3,600 mAh, and improved on the disadvantage of embedded battery.

 

The third is the low energy consumption environment. AOD (always-on display) was applied, and also to meet the trend of heavy gaming use, the next generation graphic Vulkan API (application programming interface) is supported that can be also used on consoles, minimizing the energy consumption.

 

Fourthly, the new smartphone has the waterproof and dustproof function. The highest standard in waterproof/dustproof IP68 grade was applied to Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and provides highest protection. With this function applied to the entire smartphone including components such as USB terminal and earphone jack, waterproofing is possible without a USB cover.

 

Additionally, Samsung Electronics expanded the Galaxy ecosystem and revealed Gear 360, a camera that can take pictures and videos in 360° at the Samsung Galaxy Unpack 2016.

 

Gear 360 has two 195° fish-eye lenses that can take 180° wide angle pictures and videos. These can be put together and generate contents that can be viewed in 360° horizontally and vertically. This can be viewed in virtual reality through Gear VR.

 

Gear 360 can be connected to Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge+, Note5, S6 Edge, and S6, and can film through smartphone application, preview and upload the contents to social network and Google Street View.

 

Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will be available in 4 colors (white pearl, silver titanium, gold platinum, and black onyx) with luxurious and glass quality. Gear 360 is expected to be released in white in the first half of 2016.

LG Electronics to Actively Induce OLED TV Demands in 2016

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LG Electronics CFO, Do Hyun Jung announced that they expect this year’s OLED TV’s demand to be approximately 4 times higher than last year’s.

 

With this statement during the LG Electronics earnings announcement (January 26), Jung demonstrated determination in popularization of OLED TV. Regarding the forecast of Q1, he estimated that despite the slow season, profit structure will improve through product mix improvement and production cost structure among others.

 

It was also revealed that the UHD OLED TV and UHD premium TV sales increased in Q4 2015. Particularly, OLED TV products recorded double the amount of previous quarter’s shipment, occupying 10% of the total TV sales.

 

Regarding the total TV market, Jung forecast that the 2016 demand stagnation will continue. Revealing that LG Electronics’ TV market share fell slightly, demand for premium products such as OLED TV and UHD TV is anticipated. He added that LG Electronics will cement the image of world leading premium products through OLED TV and compete through quality and performance.

 

In Q4 2015, LG Electronics Home Entertainment business increased shipment in key markets such as Europe, Russia, and North America, and recorded revenue of 4,740,000 million KRW, a 11% growth compared to previous quarter, and business profit also increased to 2.3% from 0.9%.

 

LG Electronics Earnings Announcement

LG Electronics Earnings Announcement

[CES 2016] OLED Smartphone Territory Slowly Expands

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OLED panel, mostly used for Samsung Electronics, is expanding its market and slowly entering China. In CES and IFA until now, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics only exhibited OLED panel equipped smartphone. However, this time, China’s dark horse Huawei exhibited Samsung Display’s OLED onto new smartphone model Nexus 6P.

 

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The panel used is 5.7 inch 518 ppi FHD OLED.

 

According to Huawei, although until now LCD has been used as OLED can produce profound black it is estimated OLED will be highly popular in Chinese market.

 

Huawei is already using OLED on smartwatch. Huawei Watch Active that began to be exhibited starting with CES 2015 uses 1.4 inch 286 ppi OLED panel with 400 x 400 resolution supplied by AUO. The thickness of the watch is 4.2 mm and rather thick, but the external design is highly detailed and beautiful much like luxury analog watch.

 

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As Huawei, which has the highest market share out of Chinese set companies, started to actively push for OLED panel use in smartphone following smartwatch, other Chinese companies, including Xiaomi, are expected to rapidly join the OLED sector.

[CES 2016] Big Changes in LG Display

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On January 6 (local time), LG Display held a press conference with key board members in attendance including CEO Sang-Beom Han, CTO In-Byeong Kang, and head of marketing Young-Kwon Song.

 

lgd1

 

At this conference, unlike previously, Han conveyed strong determination and announced LG Display will invest in future large area display with OLED. This was a conviction never seen before.

 

The evidence of the confidence could be read at the exclusive exhibition. OLED TV achieved 800 nit, 150% higher than UHD Alliance’s standard of 540 nit.

 

lgd2

 

With transparent OLED, LG Display reached leading specs. The WRGB OLED structured transparent OLED has 40% transmittance and 600 nit of brightness through the application of the 800 nit OLED technology.

 

lgd3

 

Flexible OLED also was significantly different from last year. In 2015, the comparison between LG’s OLED and LCD for automotive dashboard display showed OLED to be lacking in brightness. However, this year’s exhibition showed OLED panel to have similar level of brightness as LCD and exceeding LCD’s spec with deeper black.

 

lgd4

 

The exhibition showed rapid development of LG Display’s OLED technology.

OLED Takes Over Monitor and Notebook Markets Too

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Following the mobile and large area panel markets, OLED is now actively entering the monitor market.

 

Until now, the monitor and notebook markets were mostly occupied by LCD. Burn-in effects and power consumption were the biggest reasons that prevented OLED panels from being applied to monitor and notebook. Generally, monitor and notebook are for office use. Within the office environment, window’s task bars and icons on the main screen are fixed. Also, as the average hours of use is much higher than TV or mobile, burn-in effects is an issue. Also as Office programs or internet browsers, which usually have white background, are used heavily, power consumption is high as OLED panel of RGB method has to drive all subpixels in order to actualize white.

 

Starting with the black and white OLED monitor in 2012, Sony steadily developed/mass produced OLED monitor. However, it is analyzed the application was possible as this OLED monitor was mostly used for medical and broadcasting uses and in different settings from the office monitor environment.

 

However, with Lenovo and HP’s announcements of OLED Notebook release, the status is changing.

 

In January 2016, Lenovo announced world’s first OLED notebook ‘X1 Yoga’ with 14 inch AMOLED panel with 2550×1440 resolution. Following this, HP also announced the release of 13.3 inch OLED hybrid laptop/tablet ‘Specter X360’ with 2560×1600 resolution.

 

These OLED panel equipped notebook releases break the existing perception that OLED panel is not suitable for monitor and notebook, and can be considered that OLED panel’s lifetime and power consumption have been achieved to be suitable for monitor and notebook. As such, much attention is on whether the OLED market will be able to greatly expand in the monitor and notebook markets following their success in mobile and TV markets.

 

Lenovo's ‘X1 Yoga’ (left), HP's ‘Specter X360 hybrid laptop/tablet’ (right), Source : Lenovo, HP

Lenovo’s ‘X1 Yoga’ (left), HP’s ‘Specter X360 hybrid laptop/tablet’ (right), Source : Lenovo, HP

[CES 2016] OLED TV Passes UHD Alliance Standards

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ces1

 

As a press event of CES 2016 (January 6-9), UHD Alliance, which was created by TV manufacturing companies, contents companies such as film studios, and picture and sound quality related companies to energize the declining TV market, gave a presentation on future UHD TV market and UHD Alliance activities.

 

The TV market recorded approximately 230 million units in 2015. However, this is 20 million units fewer than 2014’s 250 million, and CES reported that 2016 performance will be similar to 2015. 2016’s estimated UHD TV market, which is the premium market of 55 inch or larger, is 21% of the total TV market with approximately 48 million units.

 

The 4 key factors that UHD Alliance is pursuing in UHD TV are image resolution, color bit depth, color palate, and high dynamic range.

 

LCD TV and OLED TV that satisfy these factors are to be available from this year. In order to respond to OLED’s vivid color realization, LCD TV companies developed quantum technology. Also to draw near OLED’s contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 they are continuing technology development, but the LCD contrast ratio remains around 3,000:1.

 

It is worth noting that UHD Alliance provided 2 HDR specs: more than 1,000 nits peak brightness at less than 0.05 nits black level, or 540 nits brightness with 0.0005 black level.

 

LG Electronics already achieved UHD Alliance’s HDR spec of 540 nit peak brightness last year, and this is analyzed to provide foundation for more invigorated future OLED TV market. Based on this, OLED TV is expected to be the main force within the UHD TV market.

 

Additionally, UBI Research estimated that 2016 OLED TV market will record 1,200,000 units.

 

ces2

Looking Ahead to 2016 OLED Industry through Keywords

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  1. Flexible AMOLED Investment

In 2016, flexible AMOLED mass production line investment is expected to be actively carried out by Samsung Display, LG Display, BOE, and Japan Display. For Samsung Display to apply flexible AMOLED panel to the new Galaxy model, the mass production line investment is necessary. If they supply flexible AMOLED panel to Apple, volume of the flexible AMOLED mass production to be invested in 2016 is estimated to be grow significantly. LG Display also is expected to actively carry out flexible AMOLED line manufacturing equipment order for Gumi’s P6 line, as well as additional flexible AMOLED mass production line investment following Apple’s demand. BOE is estimated to seriously begin orders for Chengdu’s Gen6 45K flexible AMOLED mass production line.

 

  1. P10

With the announcement of new factory establishment and 1.84 billion KRW investment for part of facilities in Q4 2015, as the first step of the investment, LG Display began site construction for P10 line factory that can produce large area panel. However, the investment direction has not yet been decided. P10 could be directed to only producing large area LCD panel, large area OLED panel, small-to-medium size OLED panel, or large area and small-to-medium size OLED panel simultaneously. China’s Gen8 LCD facilities investment is quite advanced and BOE’s Gen10.5 LCD line investment has also been confirmed. As such how much LG Display’s large area LCD can bring profit has to be carefully considered. Additionally, with the increase of OLED TV consumption and the supply of OLED panel to Apple practically confirmed, OLED investment is essential. P10, Gen11 line, is the world’s largest factory site, and depending on the investment direction in 2016, it is estimated to affect OLED market’s opening time.

 

  1. Chinese OLED

Everdisplay is supplying AMOLED panel to some several Chinese set companies, and Visionox is also expected to actively supply AMOLED panel from 2016. As such, most of Chinese OLED panel companies’ OLED mass production preparation is anticipated to conclude in 2016. Accordingly, second investment by companies including Everdisplay, Visionox, and Tianma is analyzed to be possible and serious movement by China’s OLED industry could occur.

 

  1. Evaporation Equipment

Flexible AMOLED mass production line investment by Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display, and BOE, and other Chinese OLED panel companies’ additional installation are expected to be actively carried out from 2016. Amidst this, order of evaporation equipment, OLED production’s essential component, is expected to be an issue.

 

Evaporation equipment currently being used in mass production is mostly Japanese Canon Tokki’s. As this evaporation equipment has been verified in mass production, it is estimated that most companies, including Samsung Display, LG Display, BOE, and JDI, will want to order Canon Tokki’s evaporation equipment. However, as the production capa. of Canon Tokki’s evaporation equipment is limited, the issue is expected to be which panel company will be able to order early. At the same time, this could be a new opportunity for Korean evaporation equipment companies.

 

  1. Samsung OLED TV

At present, the TV industry trend is moving to OLED from LCD. Accordingly, Samsung Display is continuing research to resume their large area OLED for TV panel business. It is analyzed that Samsung Display possesses RGB OLED technology that uses SMS evaporation method, white OLED, and solution process OLED technology. However, as each technology has its drawbacks, they are carefully considering future directions. First, RGB OLED technology is estimated to lack Gen8 mother glass substrate evaporation equipment at present. Solution process OLED method has low material performance. For white OLED, as the key patents are owned by LG Display, technology that avoids these has to be first developed. Therefore, much attention is focused on which technology Samsung Display will use and invest in production line to enter the TV market.

Reviewing 2015 OLED Industry through Keywords

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  1. OLED TV

OLED TV, first released in Q4 2013, recorded approximately 50,000 units of shipment each in Q1 and 2 this year. The shipment increased to 100,000 units in Q3, more than twice the amount of each quarter in H1 2015. As it is estimated that close to 200,000 units were released in Q4, over 90% of LG Display’s 2015 target is expected to be achieved. This is considered to be showing price competitiveness against other TV as the price of OLED TV fell to 1/2 of the initial price and effectiveness of aggressive marketing emphasizing the advantages of OLED TV compared to newly released LCD TV. In Q3 earnings results announcement, LG Display revealed their plan of 1,000,000 units of OLED TV panel shipment in 2016 and forecast OLED TV’s growth. For the industry, 2015 has been the year that secured foothold for OLED TV’s market expansion.

 

  1. Galaxy S6 Edge

At the time of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge’s release, Samsung Electronics estimated the initial supply to be 50:50. However, Galaxy S6 Edge showed 70% in actual demand and this led to shortage in supply. Samsung Display met the demand by starting flexible AMOLED line operation earlier than scheduled. 2015 proved future market growth potential by opening consumers’ wallets through designs possible only with flexible AMOLED panel.

 

  1. Samsung Display Supply Diversification

During the Q3 earnings announcement, Samsung Display revealed their plan to expand non-Samsung clients by 30%. Accordingly, in Q3, when smartphone market’s growth was expected to slow down, the sales performance improved by 13% compared to its previous quarter through key client’s new product release and expansion of client base. Particularly, the market occupation of AMOLED panel shipped toward China is analyzed to have increased within the global mobile market as Chinese set companies released AMOLED panel equipped smartphones.

 

  1. Apple’s OLED Application

Apple, which has been using LCD panel for all products, first applied flexible AMOLED panel, produced by LG Display, to 2015 smartwatch Apple Watch and drew much attention. In H2, Apple diversified suppliers by using Samsung Display’s flexible AMOLED panel. This move is analyzed to be groundwork for flexible OLED application to smartphone following smartwatch. 2015 has been a year with much interest in when flexible AMOLED panel equipped iPhone will be released.

 

  1. OLED Lighting

Global OLED lighting industry went through a great transformation in 2015. OLEDWorks announced they will acquire key parts of Philips’ OLED lighting business, relevant production facilities, and intellectual property. With this take over, OLEDWorks greatly expanded business through widened product portfolio and simultaneous lighting panel mass production in the US and Germany. LG Chem. transferred OLED lighting business to LG Display. The value of transfer is 1.6 billion KRW, and it is seen to be a strategy to increase competiveness by transferring the business to LG Display with their OLED panel mass production knowledge and to focus on existing materials business. The take over and business transfer of the main players in OLED lighting industry, OLEDWorks and LG Chem., are following their own business strategy. However, following these moves, related investment is expected to be delayed for some time and eyes are on how these will affect the OLED lighting business overall.