Samsung Likely to Face Low QD-OLED Yields at Start, Says DSCC’s O’Brien

Samsung Display has “big plans and big investments” for hybrid quantum dot-OLED TV panels, Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O’Brien told the virtual SMPTE 2020 conference Wednesday. “Those investments are already well underway as Samsung exits the LCD business and expects to start QD-OLED production in 2021.” QD-OLED is expected to have “some of the same advantages” as LG Display’s white OLED, plus the additional benefits of increased brightness and wide color gamut, said O’Brien. But QD-OLED is “very complex” with many manufacturing “challenges,” he said. DSCC expects Samsung will have low yields at the start, “and will begin to introduce the product at prices even higher than white OLED,” he said. Samsung didn’t respond to questions. Samsung said last month it was pondering a delay in its year-end exit from the LCD panel business due to the sharp spike in stay-at-home consumer demand for premium LCD TVs (see 2010290025).