Sharp is planning to bring higher-end TV models to the U.S. market under the Aquos brand, after announcing Tuesday a line of mainstream 4K and HD Roku TVs for its 2022 return to this country, Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski emailed Tuesday. The Japanese electronics firm hoped to return to the U.S. market with its own high-end TVs in 2019 but scrapped plans (see 1910090016) when it couldn’t meet a holiday season deadline. Sharp’s initial focus in 2022 is on mainstream models in small, medium and large screen sizes, he said. Sharp chose Roku’s operating system for its smart TV platform in the U.S. (see 2201030051) due to its No. 1 market share and marketing partnership opportunities, Sanduski said. The agreement isn’t exclusive, and Sharp markets Android TVs in other parts of the world, but its focus for the U.S. is on Roku TV, he said. The mid- to large-size Roku TVs are being assembled in Mexico by Foxconn, which owns two-thirds of Sharp; the smaller models are being imported from China, he said. Sharp isn’t exhibiting at CES 2022 “for a variety of reasons,” he said, but it plans to be on the CES show floor “at a future date.”

Supply and demand challenges will impede the startup of Samsung Display’s quantum dot OLED panel business (see 2201030004), and fewer than a million TVs with that technology will be sold globally in 2022, predicted Display Supply Chain Consultants in a white paper Tuesday on top display industry trends for the new year. The QD-OLED product “has several attributes that will make it challenging to manufacture,” and Samsung Display is expected to “struggle with low yields,” said DSCC. “This will be the company’s first effort” at large-generation oxide thin-film-transistor backplanes, it said. Backplane yields were “a major pain point” for LG Display in the early years of white OLED panel production for 1080p TVs, it said. Samsung will be making higher-resolution 4K panels with their own production challenges, it said. Samsung Display didn’t comment. Samsung and Sony, the first two QD-OLED TV brands, “will be challenged to effectively market" the new sets, said DSCC. “We expect that because of the complexity and limited production capacity of QD-OLED, it will be positioned at a price premium over comparable TVs” with white OLED panels from LG Display, it said: “While these QD-OLED TVs will have an advantage in color gamut and perhaps in viewing angle, it is unclear whether these advantages will be noticeable enough to justify the price premium.”

Brelyon will integrate LG Display's polymer-based OLED technology into its virtual monitors under a “strategic cooperation” agreement announced jointly by the companies Tuesday. Brelyon technology uses “computational wavefront engineering to emulate a massive panoramic screen with single or multiple depth levels without the need for wearing headsets,” they said. The companies will use their joint development agreement to “serve the rising large format gaming and productivity sectors,” they said.

Smartphone OEMs procured 634 million AMOLED panels globally in 2021, worth $379 billion in revenue, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. Unit volume increased 27% year over year, and revenue was up 22% from 2020, it said. Flexible AMOLED smartphone panels increased by 28% to generate a 56% unit share and a 73% revenue share, said DSCC. The segment dominated due to the expected Q3 and Q4 “lift” from Apple for the iPhone 13 series and more brands launching flexible AMOLED smartphones to focus on premium smartphones in light of chip supply shortages, it said.

LG Display's next-generation OLED EX technology boosts brightness by up to 30% over previous OLED versions, said the panel maker Wednesday. LGD was able to convert the hydrogen elements in OLEDs into “stable deuterium,” applying the compounds to OLED EX for the first time, it said. An algorithm in OLED EX uses machine learning to study viewing patterns, then controls the display’s energy input to accurately reproduce the details and colors of video content, said LGD. The technology enables a 30% reduction in bezel thickness, it said. LGD plans to integrate OLED EX into all OLED TV panel production at its fabs in Paju, South Korea, and Guangzhou, China, beginning in Q2, it said.

LG Display will use CES 2022 to showcase transparent OLED for home, commercial and transportation applications, it said Sunday. It will show a concept technology, the OLED Shelf, combining two transparent OLED screens, one above the other, which appear to hang from a shelf on the wall, to display images of gallery paintings or TV shows. Another display, designed for retail stores, shows visual content on screen that meshes with products on display “to better grab the attention of shoppers.” A “smart window” for future offices can transform from a glass window to a screen for video conferencing, presentations and entertainment, the company said. Citing Boston Consulting Group figures, LG said the global transparent OLED display market is forecast to show a 116% compound annual growth rate to reach $2.7 billion by 2025.

Panel maker LG Display will showcase flexible OLED solutions at CES 2022, including two new “product concepts” called “virtual ride” and “media chair,” said the company Thursday. It describes virtual ride as a “futuristic” indoor stationary bicycle with three vertical 55-inch OLED screens that “come together to form one large, curved, r-shaped display,” giving users an “immersive view” of the simulated scenery around them. The media chair, said LGD, is a “modern relaxation device” that combines a curved 55-inch OLED TV screen with an “extremely comfortable recliner.” The screen can rotate between vertical and horizontal orientations at the touch of a button on the armrest, it said.

LG Display’s possible agreement to sell TV panels to Samsung Visual Display, the world’s top TV maker, likely will be a big 2022 event “that could have far-reaching implications across the display industry,” blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young. “We have been hearing about this for some time and believe it will happen,” said Young Monday. His “expectation” is that Samsung will buy up to 2 million OLED TV panels and 5 million LCD TV panels from LGD next year, he said. White-OLED developer LGD would be the biggest winner, as the Samsung transaction would leave TCL as the only leading TV brand without OLED sets in their lineups, said Young. With Samsung expected to procure up to 5 million LCD TV panels from LGD, that would come “mostly at the expense of Chinese and Taiwanese panel suppliers,” and they stand to be among the biggest losers, he said.

LG showcased the rollable Signature OLED TV in the lounge at The Gateway, a nonfungible token-based art and collectibles exhibition at Art Basel Miami, said the TV maker Tuesday. LG also worked with Christie’s to install LG 4K OLED displays for NFT artists to stage their works.

Funai bowed high-performance gaming monitors this week in 24-inch ($399) and 32-inch ($499) flat and curved varieties, the company emailed. The displays have a 240Hz refresh rate, 1-millisecond response time and low input delay technology that Funai said provides a lag-free image and fast game-play response.