Apple’s plan to adopt OLED panels for its next iPhone series has apparently led to a fierce competition between OLED makers. According to The Wall Street Journal, sources close to the matter confirmed that Japan’s Sharp will invest around 100 billion yen (USD 878 million) to expand OLED production to compete with its rival Samsung Electronics Co,.

Apple is expected to release three new iPhone models later this year, and one of them will feature an OLED display. A new report from South Korea’s The Bell on Monday further suggests that Apple plans to shift all iPhones to OLED displays by 2019.

Pixelligent Technologies, the leader in high-index advanced materials (PixClear®) for the display, solid state lighting and optical components markets, announced that it has been recognized as a Manufacturing Leadership Awards winner for its outstanding achievement in engineering and production technology leadership in developing its PixClearProcess™.

With about six months left before Apple unveils its next generation iPhone, the rumor mill has gone into overdrive. An article from the Wall Street Jounral suggested that Apple would adopt a curved OLED display for one of its three smartphone models this year. 

Solution based materials are a different way of processing the conventional OLED materials. So conventional OLED materials are processed by vacuum thermal deposition or heating up a powder in a crucible and evaporating it onto the substrate. Solution process materials are dissolved in a variety of solvents and then they can be coated by spin coating for lab sized experiments, or ink-jet printing, or slot-die coating, or a variety of other printing methods.

Light extraction is the process of removing light from the device itself. So when the device emits a photon, it gets trapped in the glass, in the organic layers themselves in the metals. And the-- what our challenge is, is to get all of that light into the viewing angle. So that when somebody sees the OLED they're seeing the full efficiency of that device. Rather than having light lost in the various segments.

The thing that actually converts electricity into light is the emitter itself. So there are a number of scientific challenges that are still out there in OLEDs, particularly in emitters. Even though you can go to the cell phone store and buy yourself a cell phone that's powered by OLED emitters, and active matrix OLEDs are present in cell phones and in televisions, and it leads people to think that all of the issues are solved.

OLEDs are based on organic (carbon-based) materials. Unlike LEDs, which are small point sources, OLEDs are made in sheets that provide a diffuse-area light source. While developing rapidly, OLED technology is less mature than LED technology, whose rapid advancement has created a moving target for OLED products in terms of lighting performance and pricing. Still, OLED manufacturers are optimistic that with a few key breakthroughs, OLEDs will offer a value proposition complementary with LED lighting approaches.

Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone has already caused quite a stir. There have been rumors that the company will roll out three new phones this year, including one with an OLED display. With this huge market opportunity, companies are now striving to join Apple’s supply chain.

There have been rumors that Apple will switch to OLED screen for its iPhone 8. Those rumors seem to carry more weight after Apple reportedly ordered an additional 60 million OLED panels from Samsung, bring the total number to 160 million. This means that Samsung may become the main supplier for iPhone 8 displays.

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2017, the renowned international display technology fair, took place in Amsterdam, Netherland, on 7-10th February. Last year, ISE 2016 already caught the world’s attention by gathering more than 1,000 exhibitors to attract up to 69,000 people.  Three highlights of ISE 2017 in Netherland includes: 1) fine pitch LED display and total solutions, 2) Micro LED/QLED/ OLED display, and 3) the wide adoption of laser source by global major manufacturers as a beachhead strategy to penetrate the high end projector market.

Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that Apple intends to introduce a new 3D Touch thin film sensor to the new iPhone to be released this year to replace current 3D Touch technology, reported Appleinsider.

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, is showcasing the latest ranges of lighting, automotive and infrareds products at the upcoming 9th Light-Tech Expo,including the completely new highly efficient G-5630, a new high efficiency and high CRI G-COB Xuan, automotive ambient lighting sources and infrared transmission/receiving series. Everyone is welcome to visit EVERLIGHT at Hall 3, E24-4.

These days, it seems like gadgets are constantly improving, and now the next big development may be organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The technology promises to improve your phones' quality, durability and even foldability. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, takes a look at the market for this technology and why it is expected to more than double by 2020.

Micro-LED became a hot keyword in 2016, despite being years away from commercialization. Most in the industry agree this exciting next generation display technology will not be realized for another 3-5 years, HSBC projects the earliest date of commercialization will be around 2019 earliest.

Meyer Burger has shipped a CONx TFE thin film encapsulation system consisting of an inkjet printer and PECVD system to an Asian customer for encapsulation of OLEDs and other flexible electronics applications. This latest order confirms the market’s recognition of Meyer Burger’s integral and fully automated thin film encapsulation system.

Reproducibility is a necessity for science but has often eluded researchers studying the lifetime of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Recent research from Japan sheds new light on why: impurities present in the vacuum chamber during fabrication but in amounts so small that they are easily overlooked.

Even though Japan Display has temporarily solved its fundraising deadlock with the aid from a state-backed company in the OLED panel sector, the outlook remains uncertain and there are still challenges ahead before mass production, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Japan Display Inc. (JDI) intends to acquire Panasonic and Sony’s OLED joint venture JOLED to better compete with Korean rivals and emerging Chinese players, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Idemitsu Kosan (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & Chief Executive Officer: Takashi Tsukioka; hereinafter, “Idemitsu” or the “Company”) announces its decision to expand production capacity of the OLED materials at its 100% subsidiary Idemitsu Electronic Materials Korea Co., Ltd. (location: Paju, Gyeon-do, South Korea; president: Kazuki Maeda) to respond to the expected increase in demand for OLED materials due to increased penetration of OLED displays as well as to install additional evaluation equipment in order to strengthen technological customer support capabilities.

Last night at the Printed Electronics USA conference in Santa Clara, Calif., Kateeva’s YIELDjet™ FLEX inkjet printing system was named the winner of the prestigious Technical Development Manufacturing Award. Presented annually by conference organizer IDTechEx, the award honors the most significant development of a manufacturing device process or production plant in the printed electronics industry over the previous 24 months. In particular, manufacturing developments that optimize the process of lab-scale or mass-scale production by improving productivity, quality, reliability, uniformity, or scale.

Apple’s developments in the market are a hot topic in the technology industry, market rumors that next generation iPhones would be using OLED displays ushered in a large wave of investments in the sector in China. OLED, which was a niche market product, became a hot commodity this year because of Apple’s interest in adapting the technology in next-generation iPhones.

Despite of the tremors of explosive Galaxy Note 7 sent down Samsung Electronics finances, the company reported operating profits surpassed KRW 5 trillion (US $4.37 billion) during third quarter of 2016, driven by its semiconductors and display businesses, reported Business Korea.

U.S. OLED manufacturer Universal Display Corporation’s office in Ireland reported a US $21 million loss in 2015 on revenue of US $98.2 million, reported Irish media Independent recently.

Acuity Brands announced Peter Y. Ngai, Vice President-Technology, has received the Illuminating Engineering Society’s (IES) MEDAL in recognition of meritorious technical achievement for furthering the profession, art or knowledge of illuminating engineering. Ngai was honored during the IES 2016 National Convention held October 23-25 in Orlando, Florida, U.S..

Global LED manufacturers are starting to develop micro-LED but there are still many bottlenecks to overcome before it can enter mass production, and most industry experts agree it might take another five to 10 years before it can be commercialized.

Dutch R&D institute Holst Centre (set up by imec and TNO) and American ultra-thin ceramics supplier ENrG Inc. have created the first ever ceramic-based, large-area flexible OLED. The device, manufactured on the 20-40 µm thick Thin E-Strate® ceramic substrate, promises a lifetime in excess of 10 years without the formation of blackspots. The ceramic carrier is also easy to handle and capable of withstanding the high temperatures used in display backplane manufacturing and standard sintering processes.

Philips has unveiled a 55-inch 4K OLED TV at IFA 2016 that it has coined 901F TV, reported the Verge.

Sharp might be adjusting its OLED panel production plan, and move the production plant in Taiwan to a joint venture factory with Foxconn in Japan, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Cytocompatibility studies of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been carried out on cell cultures for the first time at the Fraunhofer FEP to test how well OLEDs are tolerated by cells. The results offer promising prospects for the use of OLEDs in the medical field, such as in light therapy. The findings will be published in a white paper entitled “Preliminary cytocompatibility studies for encapsulated OLEDs” and likewise be presented at the 4th Industry Partners Day of the Fraunhofer FEP in Dresden on Sept. 28, 2016.