AN INTRODUCTION TO OLED DISPLAYS
What is an OLED?
OLED vs LCD
An OLED display have the following advantages over an LCD display:
- Improved image quality - better contrast, higher brightness, fuller viewing angle, a wider color range and much faster refresh rates.
- Lower power consumption.
- Simpler design that enables ultra-thin, flexible, foldable and transparent displays
- Better durability - OLEDs are very durable and can operate in a broader temperature range
The future - flexible and transparent OLED displays
As we said, OLEDs can be used to create flexible and transparent displays. This is pretty exciting as it opens up a whole world of possibilities:
- Curved OLED displays, placed on non-flat surfaces
- Wearable OLEDs
- Foldable OLEDs and rollable OLEDs which can be used to create new mobile devices
- Transparent OLEDs embedded in windows or car windshdields
- And many more we cannot even imagine today..
Flexible OLEDs are already on the market for many years (in smartphones, wearables and other devices) and since 2019, with the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, foldable devices are increasing in popularity. In 2019 LG also announced the world's first rollable OLED - its 65" OLED R TV that can roll into its base!
How do OLEDs work?
OLEDs are organic because they are made from carbon and hydrogen. There's no connection to organic food or farming - although OLEDs are very efficient and do not contain any bad metals - so it's a real green technology.
Where can I find an OLED display today?
OLEDs are used today in mobile phones, digital cameras, VR headsets, tablets, laptops and TVs. In 2021, over 500 million AMOLED screens will be produced - mostly to satisfy demand from smartphones, wearables, tablets, laptops and TVs. The leading AMOLED producer is Samsung Display, and most premium phones today adopt either rigid or flexible OLED displays - including those from Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Motorola, Sony and others.
OLEDs are used in mobile devices today because they are thin, efficient, flexible and bright. OLEDs carry a price premium over LCDs, but companies are using these displays more and more as performance increases and prices decrease. Here's our list of products and gadgets with an OLED display. If you are looking to adopt an OLED display in your own device, our OLED Marketplace is the world's most comprehensive OLED display catalog.
OLED TVs
OLED is the best display technology - and indeed OLED panels are used today to create the most stunning TVs ever - with the best image quality combined with the thinnest sets ever. And this is only the beginning, as in the future OLED will enable large rollable and transparent TVs!
Currently the only company that produces OLED TV panels is LG Display. The Korean display maker is producing a wide range of OLED TV panels, offering these to LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sony, Philips and others.
OLED disadvantages
OLEDs aren't perfect. First of all, it costs more to produce an OLED than it does to produce an LCD - although this should hopefully change in the future, as OLEDs has a potential to be even cheaper than LCDs because of their simple design (some believe that future OLEDs will be printed using simple ink-jet processes).
OLEDs have limited lifetime (like any display, really), that was quite a problem a few years ago. But there has been constant progress, and today this is almost a non-issue. Today OLEDs last long enough to be used in mobile devices and TVs. OLEDs can also be problematic in direct sunlight, because of their emmissive nature. But companies are working to make it better, and newer AMOLEDs (such as Samsung's Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus and Nokia's CBD displays) are quite good in that respect - some even consider them superior to LCDs.
OLED white lighting
OLEDs can be used to create excellent light source. OLEDs offer diffuse area lighting and can be flexible, efficient, light, thin, transparent, color-tunable and more. OLEDs enable new designs and these devices emit healthier light compared to CFLs and LED lighting devices.
Several companies, all over the world are developing OLED lighting technologies. The market is still at its infancy, with very high prices as production volume is low. We hope that the future will see an increased adoption of OLED lighting, although currently there are many challenges yet before mass production begins.