There’s “no respite” for the price declines of LCD TV panels, even with the pace of the decreases in Q2 bringing prices closer to panel makers’ costs, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. The combination of a continued surge in supply and “near-universally” weak demand continues to drive prices down, said DSCC. “Supply has continued to be robust while we face the slowest season for demand,” it said.

Nanosys is partnering with China’s Bready, a developer of advanced materials, to launch the world’s first barrier-free laminated quantum dot film components under the Nanosys xQDEF trademark, said the companies Thursday. Laminate renders QD’s color and brightness performance, but in a new, lower-cost package, expanding the market for QD TVs, they said. Hisense, TCL and Vizio are expected to launch display products based on the new components in second-half 2022, they said. Eliminating costly barrier films gives display makers extended flexibility in white point and color gamut tuning while maintaining full manufacturing compatibility with QDEF TVs, they said. Nanosys positioned xQDEF last year as enabling lower-cost QD backlights in new form factors without sacrificing QDEF’s efficiency or color performance (see 2012300003).

The costs of hybrid quantum dot-OLED panels produced by Samsung Display are expected to remain “dramatically higher than any other flat panels of the same screen size due to low yields” in their first year of introduction, blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O’Brien Monday. DSCC estimates 2022 yields for 55- and 65-inch QD-OLED panels won’t quite reach 60%, though recent reports suggested Samsung Display had attained 75% yields in “undetermined” screen sizes, he said: “If these reports are confirmed and attributable to TV size panels then our yield estimate will be revised in the next update.” The costs for QD-OLED panels will come down sharply next year, declining perhaps by 30% or more year over year, said O’Brien: “Higher yields allow for fixed costs, which include depreciation and most personnel and indirect costs to be amortized over higher volumes.” Sony introduced two QD-OLED TVs at CES 2022 in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes under its Bravia XR A95K series (see 2201030004).

Global revenue from OLED panel shipments for five display applications will rise at a 9% compound annual growth rate, reaching $65 billion in 2026, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. Panels for OLED monitors are projected to have the highest growth outlook, rising at 104% CAGR in units and 70% in revenue, said DSCC, “For OLED monitors, we have updated this forecast to reflect faster shipments from 2025,” as panel suppliers ramp up future “cost-optimized” Gen 8.5 fabs, it said. Gen 8.5 panels using indium gallium zinc oxide backplanes “could be the best solution for OLED monitors due to the ability to achieve higher brightness,” it said.

LCD and OLED waged a “pitched battle” in Q4 for relevance in the “advanced TV” space, “with each camp making gains by playing to their strengths,” reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. DSCC defines advanced TVs as any set with an enhanced “display technology feature,” including all OLED TVs, all 8K LCD TVs and all LCD TVs with quantum dots, it said. “Aggressive OLED pricing allowed the emerging technology to gain unit share, but a combination of higher LCD TV prices, a bigger screen size mix and the growth of MiniLED TV sets allowed LCD TV to gain revenue share,” said DSCC. Global advanced TV shipments in Q4 increased by 29% year over year to 6.6 million units, it said. All OLED TV screen-size groups increased year over year, with the biggest gains in 77-inch screens (up 116%) and larger 48-inch (up 276%), it said. Within the LCD category, shipments for the high-volume 55- and 65-inch sizes recorded only single-digit percentage gains, but advanced LCD TVs larger than 75 inches increased 67%, it said.

OLED microdisplay producer eMagin is using direct-patterning technology to build “proof of concept” displays for augmented- and virtual reality headsets “with a tier 1 consumer electronics company,” said CEO Andrew Sculley on a Q4 earnings call Thursday. “The addition of advanced production machinery, which we expect to have online next year, will produce the displays “in production quantities at our fab,” he said. “Tool qualification will begin in the first half of 2023 as we prepare to shift from R&D to production.” Compared with white OLED microdisplays with color filters, the direct-patterning displays have more brightness and much better power efficiency, said Sculley. EMagin expects the direct-patterning technology will “ultimately replace current full-color OLED technologies,” he said. Peak brightness of 10,000 nits, which the direct-patterning OLEDs can achieve, “is an important threshold for VR headset customers, including the tier one for whom we have designed a high resolution VR display,” he said.

OLED panel shipments reached 831 million units in 2021, a 25% year-over-year increase, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. OLED smartphone panel procurement increased 27% year on year to 638 million units, with Apple claiming the top unit share at 29%, followed by Samsung’s 22%. OLED TV panel procurement increased 73% to 7.8 million units led by LG with a 58% unit share, followed by Sony’s 22%. For 2022, DSCC expects smartphones to have a 75% unit share of all OLED panels shipped, down from 77% in 2021.

Universal Display’s disclosure on its Q4 earnings call last week that it was on track to meet preliminary target specs with its phosphorescent blue emissive OLED system by year-end, enabling the introduction of the first commercial products in 2024 (see 2202240001), “thrilled investors,” reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. The disclosure drove Universal’s shares nearly 23% higher Thursday “when many stocks tanked because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” it said. The addition of blue to Universal’s “portfolio” has the potential to dramatically improve its revenue and speed “the entire sector of OLED displays,” said DSCC. Universal had never previously “given a timeline for introduction of phosphorescent blue,” it said. “A more efficient blue emitter makes OLED more energy efficient and therefore a more attractive display for all applications, especially mobile.”

LG is shipping two sub-$3,000 4K CineBeam projectors with 2,000,000:1 contrast radio and keystone correction, it said Monday. The line starts with the $2,499 HU710Q, which uses a wheel-less hybrid laser to deliver 2,000 ANSI lumens of brightness via laser-LED technology. The step-up HU715Q ultra-short-throw projector ($2,999) generates 2,500 ANSI lumens of brightness using a laser light source. Both light sources are rated for 20,000 hours of use. The projectors have a brightness optimizer to adjust to ambient light conditions, dynamic tone mapping to support HDR performance, Filmmaker Mode and LG’s webOS smart platform for access to streaming services. The HU715Q has built-in quad woofers and 2.2-channel, 20-watt-per-channel stereo sound, up from the HU710Q's 5-watt-per-channel audio. The higher end unit can connect wirelessly to one or two Bluetooth speakers for a surround-sound experience, the company said; it guarantees compatibility only with LG Bluetooth speakers.

Universal Display is on track to meet “preliminary target specs” with its phosphorescent blue emissive OLED system by year-end, enabling the introduction of the first commercial products in 2024, said CEO Steven Abramson on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. “We believe that the commercial introduction of our full-color emissive stock will unlock a vast array of opportunities for higher energy efficiency and higher performance across a broad range of OLED applications,” he said. Universal has begun selling phosphorescent blue materials still in development, said Abramson. “We would expect it to pick up a little bit but not move the needle until we get to the commercial level.” Universal has talked for multiple quarters about the progress it made on phosphorescent blue emissive OLED, but Wednesday’s call was the first in which it quoted timing on an anticipated commercial introduction. Asked in Q&A what recent advancements gave Universal comfort to make the more aggressive disclosure, “a lot of them are confidential,” but involve the materials’ “color point lifetime and efficiency.” said Abramson. “While we clearly have internal milestones, I think we're going to keep that internal.” Universal’s total 2021 revenue jumped 29.1% to $553.53 million, including a 38.7% increase in materials sales to $318.62 million and an 18.4% increase in royalty and license fee collections to $219.03 million. The stock closed 22.7% higher Thursday at $163.18.