Future prospects for wearable OLED products are huge

OLED display manufacturers have a bright future as more products equipped with this next-generation display come onto the market. Taiwan’s pioneering display technology company, Organic Light Emitting Materials, also tasted the sweet fruits of success.

Universal Display Corp., based in New Jersey, has been developing organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for nearly two decades and has enjoyed high-margin technology and patent licensing for OLED display manufacturers. One of Huanyu's major customers is Samsung Display Co., a panel maker of Samsung Electronics Co. Universal also sells OLED materials to customers, which is a relatively new business in the business structure.

Janice Mahon, vice president of the commercialization division of Universal Technologies, said that with more OLED products such as the concave TV, the company saw more growth potential. Samsung Electronics has long invested in the development of next-generation displays that can be used in wearable devices.

Compared with a typical liquid crystal display, OLEDs are more vivid in color and consume less energy. Ma Hong said that the thin and flexible nature of OLEDs allows them to be very flexible and can be made into different forms such as flexible screens.

However, due to technical issues, flexible screens have not yet been widely used, and Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics Inc. have been hindered from launching mobile phones equipped with shatterproof OLED displays. To make curved displays, like traditional glass displays, prevent water vapor infiltration is one of the challenges.

The OLED of the Samsung Galaxy smartphone is protected by glass. Ma Hong said: "Oxygen and water vapor can be highly infiltrated into today's commercial plastic." Universal is looking at plastic-based, but waterproof display technology.