IDTechEx Research: The Rise of Plastic and Flexible OLED Displays

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The Rise of Plastic and Flexible OLED Displays
June 2016
Dr Guillaume Chansin
Senior Technology Analyst, IDTechEx Research

idtechex.com/research
Market reports
• Players in the OLED value chain who need detailed
market forecasts
• End users who wish to incorporate plastic and flexible
displays in their products
• Investors who want a complete overview of the OLED
display market
OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026:
The Rise of Plastic and Flexible
Displays
Technology analysis and detailed forecasts by
market segment and display type
Published May 2016
The report will be useful to:

OLED v.s. LCD
Source: LG Display
No backlight unit
Most displays on the market are based on
LCD (but often mislabelled as “LED”)
LCD is a transmissive display technology.
It requires a backlight.
OLED is an emissive technology. Light
comes from thin films of
electroluminescent organic materials.
OLED does not require any backlight and
therefore can be much thinner than LCD.
OLED displays made with TFT backplanes
are called AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED)

Evolution of OLED in the display industry
Early years: small PMOLED displays
(mobile phones, music players)
~2008: Smartphone displays (AMOLED) from Samsung SDC
Now: TVs, Tablets and Wearables
4th wave: Flexible displays
and printed TVs

Samsung Display plans to invest 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) to expand OLED production
The new production line will mainly make medium and small-sized OLED displays for consumer electronics devices
like smartphones and tablets.
The investment will be made from 2015 to 2017
LG Display said it will invest more than 10 trillion won ($8.71 billion) to build a large plant to make OLED panels
Initial 1.84 trillion won will be spent for the construction of new plant in Paju
Production is expected to begin in the first half of 2018
Plan is to make panels across all product segments including large screens for TVs and flexible OLED panels for
devices such as smartwatches and auto displays.
Large investment in OLED announced last year

The total market for OLED
displays is expected to reach
$16 billion in 2016
Biggest segment is currently
mobile phones
Will grow to $57 billion by
2026
The market for OLED displays
Source: IDTechEx report “OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026”

12 inch tablet from Samsung now available
Notebooks and monitors have been announced
Virtual Reality headsets are based on OLED
Product trends in 2016: Bigger, better, faster
Galaxy TabPro S (12 inch)
HP Spectre x360 (13.3 inch)
Dell UltraSharp 30
Sony Playstation VR

Better viewing angle?
Better colors?
Better contrast?
Lower power consumption?
Faster refresh rate
Form factor (thin, curved and flexible)
Why choose OLED over LCD?
PS Vita LCD and OLED versions
(Source: YouTube)

Replace the glass substrate with a plastic material and use thin film encapsulation
It is possible to make display panels that are 0.3mm to 0.5mm thick
Not yet fully flexible
First step towards flexible: OLED on plastic substrate
Source: LG Display
Photo: IDTechEx

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge launched in Sept 2014: had a wrap-around OLED display (rigid plastic) with a 7 mm
bending radius at the sharpest point.
Latest Samsung flagship phone has dual edge display
Plastic OLED now in premium smart phones
Source: Samsung

Strong growth for plastic and flexible displays
The market for plastic and flexible
AMOLED panels will reach $18bn by
2020
This corresponds to 42% of total OLED
display revenues in 2020
Current applications are primarily mobile
phones and wearable devices
Source: IDTechEx report “OLED Display Forecasts 2016-2026”

Apple says the Watch has a “flexible Retina display” (does not officially say it
is OLED)
The Watch has a plastic OLED with a glass or sapphire front cover
Plastic OLED offers several advantages in a watch:
o Thinner than LCD or glass-based OLED (which leaves more space for
the battery)
o OLED consumes very little power when just turning on a few pixels (ideal
for showing the time or notifications)
o Gives a jewellery appearance without the typical bright rectangle of LCD.
Items seem to be floating inside the watch.
Most of these features would also be beneficial in a future iPhone
Case study: the Apple Watch
Photo: IDTechEx

The Moto X Force (a.k.a Droid Turbo 2) comes with a
shatterproof screen.
Combine a plastic OLED display with a plastic front cover:
the screen is entirely glass free
The front cover can be replaced by the owner if there are
too many scratches
The screens also includes a dual touch layer: “In the event
of an impact that damages the primary touch-sensitive
layer, a second layer takes over to maintain touchscreen
performance.”
Case study: Motorola shatterproof screen
Source: Motorola

Foldable devices will make it easier to carry a large display
Some working devices have already been demonstrated
Example: 8.7” foldable display with touch sensor, 0.1 mm thick, made by SEL in Japan
Future form factors: foldable display
Photo: IDTechExSource: Samsung

This year, Samsung Display
demonstrated a 5.7” rollable OLED
display
10 mm curvature radius
Full HD resolution
Thickness is 0.3 mm and weight is 5g
Samsung recently demonstrated a rollable display
Source: YouTube (OLED-info)

OLED is here to stay! Total market for OLED displays will grow to $57bn
over the next decade
The rise of plastic and flexible displays is the most important trend and is
disrupting the display industry
New manufacturing techniques have enabled mass production of the first
generation of plastic OLED displays
Korean manufacturers are making considerable investment in production
capacity for plastic and flexible displays. This market will reach $18bn by
2020.
Future flexible displays will make foldable devices a reality
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