Samsung Display is said to be mulling the idea of expanding QD-OLED production capacity in order to make smaller panels for monitors at a new facility.
The company is reportedly looking to compete with LG Display, which is said to be on the verge of starting production of new 27-inch and 32-inch WOLED panels at its factories in South Korea and China. As such, Samsung is reportedly considering building 27-inch QD-OLED panels to compete against them, according to a report by The Elec.
The report cites UBI Research analyst Choong Hoon Yi, who said Samsung Display is considering investing in QD-OLED production at its new A5 factory that’s still under construction. “A5 will manufacture panels using Gen 8.6 substrates and its main target is 27-inch monitors,” Yi said, mentioning that “Cupertino” will be the main customer. Cupertino is, of course, the home city of the iPhone and Mac computer maker Apple.
QD-OLED is a new kind of display technology developed by Samsung Display that’s said to combine the best aspects of QLED and traditional OLED, so you get more brightness, more accurate colours and higher contrast ratios than either of the older technologies can produce.
The technology was launched this year and has already been found in some high-end TVs. To date though, Samsung Display has only produced 55-inch and 65-inch QD-OLED panels for TVs, and 34-inch panels for monitors. It was reported earlier this year that it will also make 77-inch QD-OLED TV panels and 49-inch monitor panels next year. If today’s report is true, then it will also be going smaller.
At present, Samsung Electronics, Dell Alienware, MSI and Philips have all launched QD-OLED monitors, suggesting there’s a welcome market for the technology.
The Elec’s report said that in addition to the 27-inch monitor plan, Samsung Display is going to start making two-stack RGB OLED displays for tablets and laptops, and once again the main customer is expected to be Apple. Previously, it has been reported in Korean media that Apple will switch to OLED displays in its 2024 iPads and its 2025 Mac computers. Currently, those devices both use LCD displays.
Samsung Display had reportedly considered using RGB OLED for monitors too, but ultimately went with QD-OLED.
