While InGaN-based LEDs (normal LEDs for Lighting and backlight) continue to face oversupply, IR LEDs have been in the limelight in 2017 with various applications boosting demands. 

Flip Chip Opto releases Apollo 4800, a Flip Chip COB LED engine as part of their flagship Apollo series that is based on the company’s patented 3-Pad Flip Chip LED Technology. 

Apple is apparently going all out for its next-generation iPhone. Latest reports suggest Apple has bought Israeli startup RealFace who specializes in facial recognition technology, adding weight to recent rumors claiming that the new iPhone will boast facial recognition.

Global demand for LED chips has been picking up strongly, and is expected to finally exceed supply in 2017. In addition, Apple has recently patented a new smartphone solution that would use a range of Micro LEDs for fingerprint recognition. As a result, prices of LED products have been on the rise.

While the public fixed their eyes on Osram’s deal with the Chinese consortium, another acquisition secretly took place in Europe. Philips, the Dutch lighting giant recently focusing on healthcare technology, last year privately bought Luciom and relocated it from France to Eindhoven, Netherland, reported LEDs Magazine.

Solution based materials are a different way of processing the conventional OLED materials. So conventional OLED materials are processed by vacuum thermal deposition or heating up a powder in a crucible and evaporating it onto the substrate. Solution process materials are dissolved in a variety of solvents and then they can be coated by spin coating for lab sized experiments, or ink-jet printing, or slot-die coating, or a variety of other printing methods.

Light extraction is the process of removing light from the device itself. So when the device emits a photon, it gets trapped in the glass, in the organic layers themselves in the metals. And the-- what our challenge is, is to get all of that light into the viewing angle. So that when somebody sees the OLED they're seeing the full efficiency of that device. Rather than having light lost in the various segments.

The thing that actually converts electricity into light is the emitter itself. So there are a number of scientific challenges that are still out there in OLEDs, particularly in emitters. Even though you can go to the cell phone store and buy yourself a cell phone that's powered by OLED emitters, and active matrix OLEDs are present in cell phones and in televisions, and it leads people to think that all of the issues are solved.

OLEDs are based on organic (carbon-based) materials. Unlike LEDs, which are small point sources, OLEDs are made in sheets that provide a diffuse-area light source. While developing rapidly, OLED technology is less mature than LED technology, whose rapid advancement has created a moving target for OLED products in terms of lighting performance and pricing. Still, OLED manufacturers are optimistic that with a few key breakthroughs, OLEDs will offer a value proposition complementary with LED lighting approaches.

Crossing the road safely is an important rule that everyone should bear in mind. There are also signs everywhere to remind us of road safety. However, smartphone zombies, namely pedestrians who are obsessed with their phones and do not pay attention to their surroundings while walking, have taken over the world. They even cross the roads with their eyes glued to their phones, to the extent that they become a hazard to themselves and others.

Like any new technology, LED lighting must demonstrate a compelling value to buyers before it begins to win sizeable market share from the incumbent technologies it will replace. Over the past decade, research and development have yielded impressive improvements in the cost, color performance, light output, efficacy, reliability, lifetime, and manufacturability of LED products. Looking at LED packages specifically, the cost in dollars per kilolumen ($/klm) has been declining rapidly since 2005 at a rate of around 20% per year. As a result, LED lighting products have become competitive in almost every lighting application, but there is still room for improvement.

Japanese Nobel Laureate Shuji Nakamura, known for his invention of blue LED manufacturing technology and several subsequent LED innovations, disclose the history of blue LED and shared with the public his insights concerning the future of the LED industry on 8th Feb. at Academia Sinica. As general lighting has lately come to the stage of maturity, which hindered the LED industry, LED manufacturers are now seeking potential markets where they could recuperate and thrive. In his speech, Nakamura 'illuminated the industry’ by unveiling three future LED applications: Micro-LED, laser lighting, and the Li-fi technology.

Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone has already caused quite a stir. There have been rumors that the company will roll out three new phones this year, including one with an OLED display. With this huge market opportunity, companies are now striving to join Apple’s supply chain.

Successfully verified within the scope of the Bundeswirtschaftsprojekt (German Federal Economics Project). Li-ion batteries are quickly and harmlessly extinguished – verification within the scope of the SPEISI national project for the use of stationary energy storage systems (ESS).

Philips Lighting, with sales of EUR 7.1 billion in 2016 and 34,000 employees worldwide, has been focusing on developing new smart lighting solutions to cater to smart city trends around the world.

SHADE today launches The Orb, the next generation smart light that gives its users a complete control over intensity, color and temperature to shape the ambience within their homes.

Using ground-breaking LED technology from SGM, an interactive light commission entitled IN LIGHT: Illuminating Capability Brown’s Landscape, was created by light artist Laurent Louyer from Creatmosphere.

LEDs have become mainstream lighting applications. In recent years, market penetration rate of LED lighting has increased rapidly, and in 2016 the downtrend in prices became less noticeable. However, market growth has slowed, suggesting that global demand has become uneven.   

Veeco Instruments today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2016.

Cree today announced that it will terminate the definitive agreement to sell its Wolfspeed Power and RF division (“Wolfspeed”), which includes the silicon carbide substrate business for power, RF and gemstone applications, to Infineon Technologies AG.

Portable Lighting Measuring Equipment with Display, the first CCD spectrometer in the world. Portable light and color meter free from connecting with computer. This light meter can capture and visible light source and to operate the device through touch panel instinctively, instant spectrum and data available. Several models available, such as PPF and LED BINS. MEMS Micro-spectrometer is the core of portable light meter. Its high stability and accuracy provide diversified application.

The 2017 presentation of InfoComm China, to be held on 12 – 14 April 2017, will set yet another record for being the largest ever to take place, occupying all nine halls covering 55,000 sqm of the China National Convention Centre. Building on the success of previous editions, InfoComm China 2017 will see more than 300 local and overseas exhibitors as well as the convergence of record number of visitors and Summit delegates, further enhancing its position as the biggest, most vibrant and not-to-be-missed showcase of professional AudioVisual (pro-AV) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Asia Pacific.

Aura Light has been involved in the replacement of a new warehouse lighting scheme at TNT in Croydon.

The 7th annual LED professional Symposium +Expo will be taking place from September 26th to 28th. 

Larson Electronics has announced the release of an 18 watt PAR 36 LED bulb that produces 1,800 lumens of light and operates on 10-30 volts DC.

MaxLite today announced the introduction of a 10-year warranty on MaxLite LED indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures that includes coverage for parts and labor.

HexaTech Inc. announced today the signing of two strategic agreements with OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH, of Regensburg, Germany. 

Seoul Semiconductor announced the immediate start of the mass production of its LED Chip-On-Board Package for use in LED filament bulbs, a market currently estimated to be USD 1.3 billion globally.

There have been rumors that Apple will switch to OLED screen for its iPhone 8. Those rumors seem to carry more weight after Apple reportedly ordered an additional 60 million OLED panels from Samsung, bring the total number to 160 million. This means that Samsung may become the main supplier for iPhone 8 displays.

Automotive LED has been one of the LED applications whose market scales are huge and still rapidly growing. According to LEDinside, The trend that global auto lighting has shifted from traditional light bulbs to LED light sources has accelerated in 2016. More matured markets have steadily migrated into high portion of LED light sources. Emerging countries have stably followed the trend. LEDinside's research data showed that 2016 exterior LED lighting market value reached US $1.57 billion. This sector's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is projected to hit 6% from 2016 to 2020.