It seems Apple is planning on finding one more source of OLED displays for its iPhone. The Korea Herald reported that last month Apple talked with LG Display to invest around USD 1.75-2.62 billion into its new OLED plant, called E6.

Aurora lighting, the international LED lighting and technology organisation, has partnered with leading automobile manufacturer, BMW, to carry out its first smart lighting pilot scheme following the recent announcement of its new enterprise connected lighting platform, AXiO.

Smart cities is definitely one of the latest buzzwords, together with the Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, smart data and visible light communication (VLC). Interesting enough, it is actually the presentation of these factors integrating all together on a scale of a city. Everything in a city–transportation, communication, security, water and power supply, and other community services–through networks, computing, analysing, and data transfer, can be more efficiently managed and improved. This is how a smart city is conceived.

Wipro Lighting became the first Indian Lighting Company to participate in the CISCO Live event which was scheduled from 25 – 29 June 2017, Las Vegas, USA. The company unveiled and showcased it’s smart & connected lighting solutions at the event. With over two decades of experience in standalone & connected lighting control system installations, Wipro Lighting is at the forefront in providing smart, intelligent & connected lighting solutions for modern work space requirements and applications.

The first half of 2017 has passed and the world has been waiting for the new iPhone, which is projected to be launched either late in this year or in 1Q18. However, according to CNBC’s report on 20th June, gadget lovers could probably have a few more things to expect, Apple’s smart glasses ‘iGlass’, for instance.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display lately has been receiving market attention. Not only have Korean companies been working on the development, but recently, according to BusinessKorea, even Chinese firms have jumped into the competition.

South Korean LED manufacturing Giant Seoul Semiconductor and Japan-based Toshiba Materials held a press conference introducing SunLike, a new LED technology supported by Toshiba’s TRI-R phosphor solution, in Frankfurt, Germany. The SunLike LEDs with TRI-R phosphor technology simulate sun in terms of emission spectrum, eliminating excessive blue light and appearing to be more friendly to human eyes and circadian rhythm.

Today Current, powered by GE announced it is partnering with Sainsbury’s to make it the first grocery retailer in the U.K. to power all its supermarkets entirely by LED lighting.

LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it has developed the world’s first 77-inch flexible and transparent OLED display. With this achievement, LG Display, recognized for its expertise in large-sized OLED technology, further reinforced its leadership in the global display industry.

Silver Spring Networks, Inc. today announced its first international utility-led, country-wide smart street light control program with Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). JPS is an integrated electric utility company and the sole distributor of electricity in Jamaica serving over 600,000 customers. JPS will extend its existing Silver Spring IPv6 platform to connect up to 110,000 smart LED street lights in population centers around the island including Kingston, Spanish Town, Negril, and Falmouth. Silver Spring’s Streetlight.Vision Central Management System (CMS) will also be deployed for JPS through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to control and manage the networked street lights.

At this moment in the history of the LED industry, we have already witnessed it passed into the maturity stage, struggled to revive by finding new beachhead markets (and it succeeded), and advanced its production, ready to embrace future business possibilities. LED chip manufacturers and packagers worldwide have now been gradually shifting their focus to develop products for niche markets, including UV LED, IR LED, automotive, horticultural, and even smart lighting.

Philips Lighting announced that it will provide LLC Agro-Invest, Russia’s most innovative greenhouse produce company, with LED grow lights to support cultivation of tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses covering an area of more than 25 hectares (equivalent in size to about 40 soccer pitches). The project, which is the largest LED horticultural lighting project ever undertaken, will enable year-round growing, help boost yields - especially in the winter - and will save 50 percent on energy costs compared to conventional high-pressure sodium lighting. The project also underlines a global trend for large-scale LED horticultural lighting implementations that can support demand for locally grown produce. 

It is inevitable to find some exhibitors keep harping on the same old products at a tremendous lighting exposition as GILE 2017 (of course it is for they were there to trade), but it is also fairly reasonable to spot something new, let alone when walking around in the hall of LED chips and packages (of which the market is now a deep red ocean in China).

Kicking off on 9th of June, Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition 2017, under Messe Frankfurt’s thorough organization, gathered 2,428 exhibitors from global lighting and smart technology supply chains. Within a total exhibition space of 180,000 square meters across 17 halls of the China Import and Export Fair Complex, state-of-the-art technologies and hot-button lighting trends and concepts from 21 countries and regions were presented to trade visitors expecting to source promising lighting products and smart-tech ideas.

At LASER World of PHOTONICS, due to be held in Munich from 26- 29 June 2017, Instrument Systems will be showcasing many new products for the measurement of displays, UV sources and laser diodes, together with an extensive portfolio of spectroradiometric instruments. 

EVERLIGHT Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, is going to exhibit its latest high-voltage & high-efficacy 2835 series, full color and UV LEDs at Guangzhou Int'l Lighting Exhibition 2017; including the various types of components for applications to different situations and occasions, such as office, commercial, residential, industrial and special lighting, etc. one-stop exhibition is available at site; and we sincerely welcome you to visit EVERLIGHT booth at Hall 10.2 B02 to see everything in person.

Apple has been attracting a lot of media attention lately as rumors regarding its next-generation iPhone, new MacBook and AR glasses continue to swirl. A recent thread appeared on Reddit from supposed Foxconn insiders revealed some interesting details about the upcoming products, just days before the tech giant’s annual WWDC kicks off on Monday (June 5, 2017).

Google's VR vice president, Clay Bavor, recently revealed at the Society for Information Display’s (SID) week that Google has teamed up with Sharp to develop VR LCD displays. If the plan goes well, Google is expected to adopt these displays in its VR devices.

According to Japanese media Nikkei, major LED manufacturer Nichia Corporation plans to invest around 22 billion Japanese yen (about US$197 million) by the end of 2020 to build a new laser diode (LD) factory at its current production base. LD can be used as a light source for projectors, endoscopy and headlights. The Japanese LED maker’s goal is to increase current LD production capacity by at least three-fold by 2020. 

Philips Lighting announces the results of the research on the response of bats to different light spectra published in Royal Society journal Proceedings B. The recently launched Philips ClearField LED lighting was used in the research and was proven not to disturb the habitat of light-shy bat species at night.

Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd. and BOE Technology Group Co.,Ltd. have reached a basic understanding to form a strategic alliance for the development of high-performance OLED materials and displays.

IKEA announced that its smart lighting series Trådfri, which was launched in Europe last fall, will be compatible with Apple’s HomeKit, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa by the end of this summer. With this upgrade, users can control their home lighting with voice commands. IKEA also plans to expand its product range in the coming years.

MOCVD equipment is essential to LED production, and graphite wafer carrier is a unique component of MOCVD systems. Due to technology barriers, currently there are only three graphite wafer suppliers globally: German’s SGL Group, Japan’s TOYO TANSO and Dutch company Xycarb.

Following in the footsteps of Apple and Samsung, Taiwan’s contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, announced that Sharp and other Foxconn group companies will acquire an U.S. startup to develop Micro LED display technology.

Micro LED, the next generation display technology, has lighten up a new path for the LED industry. As global key players continue to jump on the Micro LED bandwagon, a whole supply chain has gradually taken shape. The development process of related applications has been ramped up, making possible an earlier than expected volume production for Micro LED-based large screen TVs. However, there are still many challenges lying ahead of commercial developments. Among them, two key elements play a pivotal role.

2017 marks an important year for Apple as it plans to release its new Apple Watch alongside the highly-anticipated next generation iPhone to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Although the tech giant has kept a low profile regarding the innovations it will bring to the market, there have been numerous rumors circulating around the devices already.

The global custom and state-of-the-art lighting market is seeing a uptick in activity in the market as a result of latest advancements in lighting technology and applications. The market is witnessing rapid advancements as well as uses for lighting technologies, while the LED lighting technologies dominated the market in terms of revenue contribution in 2016. Lighting solutions and advancements in the market of note this week include: AV1 Group, Inc., Cree Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V, Amazon.com, Inc., General Electric.

Lumileds today announced that George Craford, Lumileds Solid State Lighting Fellow, was selected for the IEEE Edison Medal for “a lifetime of pioneering contributions to the development and commercialization of visible LED materials and devices.” Craford will be presented with the medal at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in San Francisco on May 25, 2017, during the IEEE Vision, Innovations, and Challenges (IEEE VIC) Summit.

The amount of measurement points will at least double in the Helsinki region as a new supplementary air quality network of Vaisala and Pegasor sensors will be installed during the next year. The new system will enable agile and economical way to gather new information about the air quality of the Finnish capital city region.

CREE, a leader in LED components and LED lighting products, is the sponsor of the first European Horticulture Lighting Conference to be held on 23 May 2017 at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.