Reginald Parris, Lux Research12.06.16
The president of Sharp, a supplier of smartphone screen panels to Apple, recently confirmed that the next generation of iPhones will have organic light-emitting diode ( OLED ) screens. Currently, iPhones contain light-emitting diode ( LED )-backlit low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) liquid crystal display ( LCD ) displays, but the switch to OLED panels would allow for more flexible and curved displays for Apple’s iPhones. The only devices from Apple that use OLED displays are the Apple Watch and the newest iteration of the MacBook Pro, which contains an OLED touch bar.
While it appears that Apple is starting to incorporate more OLED display technology into its devices, it may only be a temporary fix until the arrival of microLED (mLED) technology. In 2014, Apple acquired LuxVue, a company that develops mLED display technology. mLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements.
Similar to OLEDs, mLEDs are primarily aimed at small, low-energy devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. When directly compared against OLED, mLEDs have certain advantages in terms of performance. mLEDs, which are based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology, have been shown to be more power efficient than OLEDs, up to 30 times brighter, have a higher lux/W and don’t suffer from the shorter lifetimes that OLED displays often experience.
But the question still remains of whether or not mLEDs are a suitable replacement for OLED displays. While there are some advantages it has over OLED technology, mLEDs still face drawbacks during manufacturing, which lead to higher costs and lower scalability.
mLEDs need to be built on small expensive wafers at high density, such as sapphire or gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafers, and each red, green or blue color can have an entirely different process. Additionally, each LED needs to be mechanically picked from the source wafers and placed onto the display backplane, which makes it difficult to get 100% yield with millions of pixels with good throughput.
While there are still some hurdles it has to overcome such as cost and scalability, mLEDs may become a viable alternative to OLED displays due to its advantages. While OLEDs are in a good position for smaller and mobile displays, they may be replaced if mLED is able to overcome its manufacturing hurdles. Readers should keep an eye on up and coming mLED developers such as Lumiode and Jasper Display Corporation.
Reginald Parris is a research associate on the Wearable Electronics Intelligence team at Lux Research. Lux Research provides strategic advice and on-going intelligence for emerging technologies.
While it appears that Apple is starting to incorporate more OLED display technology into its devices, it may only be a temporary fix until the arrival of microLED (mLED) technology. In 2014, Apple acquired LuxVue, a company that develops mLED display technology. mLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements.
Similar to OLEDs, mLEDs are primarily aimed at small, low-energy devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. When directly compared against OLED, mLEDs have certain advantages in terms of performance. mLEDs, which are based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology, have been shown to be more power efficient than OLEDs, up to 30 times brighter, have a higher lux/W and don’t suffer from the shorter lifetimes that OLED displays often experience.
But the question still remains of whether or not mLEDs are a suitable replacement for OLED displays. While there are some advantages it has over OLED technology, mLEDs still face drawbacks during manufacturing, which lead to higher costs and lower scalability.
mLEDs need to be built on small expensive wafers at high density, such as sapphire or gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafers, and each red, green or blue color can have an entirely different process. Additionally, each LED needs to be mechanically picked from the source wafers and placed onto the display backplane, which makes it difficult to get 100% yield with millions of pixels with good throughput.
While there are still some hurdles it has to overcome such as cost and scalability, mLEDs may become a viable alternative to OLED displays due to its advantages. While OLEDs are in a good position for smaller and mobile displays, they may be replaced if mLED is able to overcome its manufacturing hurdles. Readers should keep an eye on up and coming mLED developers such as Lumiode and Jasper Display Corporation.
Reginald Parris is a research associate on the Wearable Electronics Intelligence team at Lux Research. Lux Research provides strategic advice and on-going intelligence for emerging technologies.
