Musing From an OLED Advocate July 26, 2020 Week Issue Summary of July 26, 2020 LG Display issued its Q220 quarterly earnings report; revenues were 5.307t KWR ($4.411b) down 1% Y/Y, but up 12% sequentially. Operating profit was -0.669t KWR (-$560m) vs. -0.295t KWR(-$250m) last year. Display area shipped was down 32.2% Y/Y, but ASPs were up 43.4% and capacity, measured in sq. m of displays was down 29.5%. These Y/Y changes reflect LGD’s switch to OLEDs as they reduce LCD capacity. However, LG’s LCD capacity still represents ~77% of total capacity. Market researchers lowered their already reduced OLED TV panel forecast from 4.9m in 2020 to 3.6m, but LG still expects to ship between 4 and 5 million panels according to their CFO. The Guangzhou OLED fab is now at MP of 60,000 substrates/mo. but parent LGE was hit with a recall of ~60,000 OLED TVs due to a faulty PCB that contained the power supply, which was heating up and catching on fire. eMagin announced a major breakthrough in OLED micro displays with a 0.9” display, 1920 x 1200 resolution and >2600 ppi with a measured luminance of 7500 nits. eMagin achieved this breakthrough using their dPd technology, a process that uses lithography to replace FMM to pattern RGB subpixels. Previously, eMagin and other OLED micro display manufacturers used unpixellated layers of red, green and blue to create white light, which is converted by a color filter to RGB. The major benefit of eliminating the color filter is higher brightness and eMagin claims they can reach over 20,000 nits. The new structure is expected to be a lower cost process. The performance potentially opens up the high volume VR/AR market to eMagin, which has heretofore been mostly a provider of low volume, but high priced micro displays to the military. eMagin claims that at least 2 well know OEMs are building their new micro display into major VR products. The waiting is just about over as Samsung confirmed Galaxy Unpacked for August 5. But there is little chance for a surprise as the specs for all the new products have been leaked. We are left waiting to get a final reading on which smartphones support 60Hz, 90Hz or 120hz. There is growing speculation that the growth is the Galaxy S Series’ display is going to obsolete the whole Note category. UBI forecasted that SDC would ship 385m display, UBI seems to have counted only the new models as the number of panels shipped is expected to be closer to 500m. 2020 smartphone shipments in the US were down 25% Y/Y and Apple took the brunt of the decline down 23% Y/Y. With all the attention given to Apple’s switch to OLEDs, they are still expected to buy 112m LCD panels in 2020 about 50% of the total. Apple placed orders for touch integrated OLED displays with Samsung for the 2021 iPhone series while LGD and BOE have received orders touch integrated displays from Apple and Huawei, respectively. Ming-chi Kuo reports that Semco, will supply autofocus motors to this year’s new iPhone models for periscope telephoto cameras. Royole announced a partnership with sports clothing manufacturer Tūta, to produce the first fully flexible and wearable OLED display for advertising in live sports. OnePlus launched its highly touted OLED based Nord as an option to the increasingly expensive flagship phones as the performance gap between flagship and sub-flagship has narrowed drastically. Realme introduced a 5G, but LCD based mid-ranger, the X3 SuperZoom that retails at $550. As did vivo with the X50 Pro, which has a 6.56 flexible OLED. AndroidAuthority gave the OnePlus 8 Pro its best in show award for the best display in an Android phone for the 1 st half of 2020. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series, was 2 nd followed by the Huawei P40 range. All the panels were supplied by Samsung Display. The UK, by banning Huawei as a supplier for its 5G networks, created a big problem for its network companies. Not only will they have to switch to Nokia or Ericsson, the only two suppliers available, they will have to rip out existing equipment for 3G, LTE and whatever 5G installs have been made to date. It’s likely to take until 2007, for them to fully transform their networks, the only good news – they are all in the same boat. Xiaomi’s new OLED TVs are now available, but pricing and volume remains very low. WatchOS 7 , the next version of Apple's wearable software due to arrive in the fall, brings a new set of mobility metrics to the Watch. They provide a snapshot of a person's physical and cardiovascular fitness, and with the help of a physician, detect more serious health conditions. Merck plans to build its first OLED materials production base in Shanghai this year. In an effort that may be best described as “late to the party”, SK IE Technology announced it was ready to ship CPI for the cover lens in foldable displays. Given the switch to UTG in Samsung’s and Huawei’s next generation foldables, they clearly missed the market. Corning released its next generation of Gorilla Glass™, which increases both scratch resistance and the height of drop protection, while holding on price. A team in Electronic Engineering and Materials Science scientists in Korea, developed a wearable, full-color OLED display using a two-dimensional (2-D) material-based backplane transistor . San’an is building a 3 phase $1.43b Mini/Micro LED project, subsidized by the Chinese government that is expected to be in mass production in 2021. San’an is targeting production of ~2.1m mini-LED chips annually and 260,000 micro-LED chips, with 84,000 4K packaged modules, The 2020 iPhone photography award went to "Flying Boys". Banaras, India. Shot on iPhone X – by Dimpy Bhalotia Source: iPhone X - by Dimpy Bhalotia Leftovers Google Faces Making Concessions Demanded by EU In Fitbit Deal The EU wants Google to promise that the health data from the Fitbit products won't be used to "further enhance" Read More ​ UBI SDC’s OLED Shipment in 2020 to be Only 385.5m Panels UBI projected that Samsung Display will ship 156M flexible OLEDs and 229.5M rigid OLEDs for a total of 385.5M panels in 2020. Read More musing on huawei The Real Reason Behind the Huawei Ban We have been vocal on the lack of proof pinpointing anything in the Huawei system that poses a threat to Western freedom or ideals. Read More Musing on display ​ Royole, TUTA Partner in World’s 1st Wearable, Fully Flexible Display Advertising in Live Sports Royole has a small Gen 5.5 OLED fab with ~5,000 substrates/month and has a history of producing unique low volume products. Read More Smartphones Apple To Introduce Periscope Telephoto Cameras In 2022 Apple is planning to introduce periscope telephoto cameras into the iPhone lineup in 2022, according to a research note by TF Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo. Read More ​ Apple to Use Touch Integrated Panels (Y-OCTA) in 2021 iPhones Touch integrated OLED panels are gaining widespread use within the global smartphone display industry, Etnews reported, Read More Mid-Range OnePlus Nord Released OnePlus launched its highly touted Nord on Tuesday. The phone is OnePlus’ response to the increasingly expensive high end phones. Read More Q220 Smartphone Shipments in US Declined 25% Y/Y Counterpoint Research reported smartphone sales volume in the U.S. declined 25% Y/Y in Q220. Read More ​ The Best Displays in Android Phones AndroidAuthority meticulously test a wide range of smartphone attributes. When it comes to displays, they look at several facets to build up a picture of overall display quality. Read More Realme X3 SuperZoom Provides 60X Magnification As flagship smartphones increase in price ; In 2014, $750 would buy the best-of-the-best, flagships are almost twice that price for the absolute best. Read More 5G How the UK Will Replace Huawei in their Networks Now that the UK has decided not to use Huawei equipment in their 5G network, they are left with two tier one vendors. Read More ​ TV Xiaomi’s Lower Priced OLED TVs Have Minimum Impact in China Xiaomi launched its first OLED TV under its Master series with the set featuring a 65-inch 4K panel and priced at CNY12,999 (US$1,868). Read More VR/AR eMagin Announces A Direct Patterned OLED Micro Display With 7,500 Nits The VR/AR revolution has not materialized as expected by the illustrious leaders of Facebook, Apple, Google and just about every market researcher that has had to drop their forecasts year after year. Read More ​Wearables WatchOS 7 To Concentrate On Mobility (Functional Capacity) The Apple Watch may be able to predict a how healthy or unhealthy a wearer is and adjust that assessment for age. Read More Musing on Materials Merck Opens OLED Production Base in Shanghai A slowing of its mainstay liquid crystal business is reflected in Merck plans to build its first OLED materials production base in Shanghai this year. Read More SK IE, Late to the Cover Lens Market, Ships First Batch of CPI SK IE Technology (SKIET), an advanced material business unit under South Korea’s SK Innovation. Read More ​ Musing on production ​ What is Happening with LG Display? LG Display, changed its CEO at the end of last year and the results have been gloomy, although it is typical for a new CEO to get all the bad news out at the beginning of his administration. Read More Competition Heats Up for the Next Generation of IJPs With the exit of Kateeva in the IJP of RGB sub-pixels, there have been recent trade press articles citing the increased competition in the ink-jet printing market. Read More Corning Releases Victus w/2m Drop Protection and 2X Scratch Resistance Corning released the latest Gorilla Glass™ iteration, Victus (aka Gorilla Glass 7) ​ Read More US Trade Restrictions Limit Apple’s Camera Module Supply Chain The US Commerce Department added a number of Chinese companies to its ‘entity’ list Read More musing on Technology Active-Matrix OLED Displays Attached to Human Skin In a new report on Science Advances , Minwoo