Wearable OLEDs - Introduction and Latest Industry News - Page 17

In August 2015 Polyera, a US-based OTFT backplane developer, announced their first product, the Wove Band flexible E Ink smart band, to be released in the second half of 2016. Our sister-site E-Ink-Info posted an interesting interview with the company's Special Projects VP, Brendan Florez.

Brendan explains the company's OTFT backplane technology and details Polyera's business and goals. Polyera's backplane has been demonstrated to drive an OLED display in the past, so hopefully OTFT OLEDs will be coming from Polyera in the future. Read the full interview here.

The first-generation Apple Watch uses a flexible OLED display, exclusively produced by LG Display. In June 2015 it was rumored that say that Apple signed up Samsung Display to be the second OLED supplier for the next-generation Watch, and today ET News re-iterated the same report.

According to ET News, Apple is also considering ordering AMOLED panels from Samsung for the next-generation iPhone 7. ET News says that Apple will decide on the iPhone 7 display in November - and it it's going to be a flexible OLED display it will have a huge effect on Samsung as the Korean company will have to massively increase its flexible OLED capacity.

Microsoft just announced several new devices, including three ones with AMOLED displays. So first up with have the Lumia 950 smartphone, which is the company's first Windows 10 mobile phones. It features a 5.2" WQHD (2560x1440) AMOLED display, hexa-core CPU, 32GB of storage, a microSD slot, a 20mp PureView camera (with 4K video support and optical image stabilization) and a USB Type-C port.

Microsoft also launched the Lumia 950 XL, which offers the same hardware with a larger 5.7" display. The Lumia 950 will launch in November 2015 for $549 and the 950 XL will cost $649.

Samsung's latest smart watch, the Gear S2, is now shipping for $299 (black or silver) or $349 (classic). The Gear S2 is a Tizen-based that sports a 1.2" 360x360 (302 PPI) circular Super AMOLED display.

Other features include a dual-core 1 Ghz CPU, 4GB of internal memory, several sensor and a 250 mAh battery (300 mAh on the 3G model). The Gear S2 is offered in two models, the regular and the "classic" which has a black finish and is smaller and lighter.

Back in 2014, Microsoft launched their first smartband, simply called the Band, with an LCD display. The company is now reportedly aiming to launch the Band 2 on October 6th, and according to a leaked photo it looks like it might be using a curved display:

The Band 2 looks very similar to Samsung's Gear Fit which was launched in 2014. The Fit had a flexible OLED - a curved 1.84" (432x128) Super AMOLED.

Huawei's Watch, the company's first smart watch, is set to ship on September 17, for $349 to $799 (depends on the model). The Android Wear device sports a 1.4" 400x400 (286 PPI) circular AMOLED display. It features a heart rate monitor and fitness tracking, six-axis motion sensor and a barometric sensor.

We do not know yet the price of the Watch. The AMOLED display could be made by either AU Optronics,Everdisplay or Samsung Display. The most likely supplier is AU Optronics.

According to reports, Huawei will start shipping its Android Wear Watch next month. The company's first smart watch sports a 1.4" 400x400 (286 PPI) circular AMOLED display, a heart rate monitor and fitness tracking, six-axis motion sensor and a barometric sensor.

We do not know yet the price of the Watch. The AMOLED display could be made by either AU Optronics, Everdisplay or Samsung Display. The most likely supplier is AU Optronics.

Taiwan-based PMOLED maker Wisechip says that the company is the world's second largest PMOLED maker, and is now enjoying the surge in the PMOLED wearable market - due to its three-year long focus on that market.

Wisechip quotes IHS DisplaySearch that sees the PMOLED market growing from 53.5 million units ($368 million in sales) to over 70 million units (and almost $450 million in sales) in 2015. The volume growth will continue until 2018, while revenues will reach a peak in 2016 and then decline (due to lower average panel costs, evidently). Most of the growth will come from wearable devices and smart home applications.

AU Optronics is focused on OLEDs for the wearable market, and is already producing 1.63" panels. AUO is also developing 1.4" and 1.3" circular AMOLEDs, and today the company demonstrated three OLEDs for the wearable market, including a new 1.5" square AMOLED (which you can see below, together with the 1.4" circular and the 1.63" square one).

AUO is also producing 4.3", 5" and 5.5" AMOLED displays for mobile phones. Please contact us if you need help with finding a supplier for these new AMOLED displays.

US-based Polyera was established in 2005 to develop OTFT-based flexible display backplanes - suitable for OLEDs and E Ink displays. The company already demonstrated a flexible OLED based on their backplanes, and now they announced their first product, the Wove Band smartband device.

We do not have any technical details, but this looks to be an interesting device, and hopefully they will follow-up with a similar OLED-based device. Polyera will start shipping samples in December to developers and artists, and the commercial launch is planned for mid-2016.