China's flat panel company BOE has begun developing a product line that will produce OLED panels using Gen 8 (2,200 x 2,500 mm) substrates, the source said.
OLED panels now use Gen 6 glass and plastic substrates (1500mm x 1850mm). Displays made on such substrates are widely used with smartphones. The share of smartphones with OLED panels already exceeds 50% of the total shipments. Demand for OLED panels has skyrocketed due to the expansion of new market segments such as monitors, laptops, and tablets. Market leaders Samsung Display and LG Display decided to increase the size of the substrates to increase profitability. On a larger substrate, more panels can be produced at the same time. In addition, the unproductive consumption of area is reduced.
However, moving to larger substrates exacerbates the problem of sagging masks used for selective vapor deposition of organic materials. Manufacturers expect to solve it by abandoning the horizontal arrangement of the substrates in favor of the vertical one. Recently it was reported that Samsung Display specialists decided to do this. According to the source, Chinese companies BOE and CSOT are following the same path.
According to unofficial information, Apple is considering using OLED panels in future iPads. OLED adoption is expected to begin around 2023. The source suggests that BOE has embarked on an introduction to OLED panels using Gen 8.5 substrates, hoping to integrate them into the Apple iPad component supply chain.
0 Comments