Connected lighting is definitely a main focus at Light and Building 2018. While most of the lighting companies emphasize the smartness of their products, a group of OLED lighting manufacturers differentiate themselves, showing multiple values of OLED with their innovations.

Currently, automotive lighting is reported to be the most promising and most mature application market for OLED lighting. In fact, with the latest integration of LED technology, lighting has become a significant feature of cars with potential value rather than a basic function of vehicles, and OLEDs have the real potential to differentiate themselves from LEDs and can provide new added values. The BMW M4 GTS, introduced in 2016, is the first commercial vehicle to incorporate OLED technology in taillights.

TV makers, especially Samsung and LG Display, are scrambling for changes and quality upgrades for their products. In 2018, the focus of the competition between the two Korean display manufacturers will shift from QLED vs. OLED to Micro LED.

Display makers have been scrambling for the production of smartphone OLED screens for the iPhone X; however, the phone faces a tepid sales and even a possibility to be discontinued in 2018.

The emergence of Micro LED does steal some of the limelight from OLED that has been dominating the television market for the past few years, but can Micro LED really challenge OLED?

LG Display reported unaudited earnings results based on consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending December 31, 2017.

A unique, immersive installation that leverages flexible, eye-popping commercial display technology from LG Electronics (LG), is wowing attendees at CES 2018 this week. The winding 92-foot-long "LG OLED Canyon" features 246 LG Open Frame OLED displays, in concave and convex configurations, giving tens of thousands of visitors a one-of-a-kind experience of natural wonders.

LG Display is showcasing cutting-edge display products including the world’s first 65-inch UHD rollable OLED display that prove its global leadership in all areas of displays at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.

LG Display announced that it has developed the world’s first 88-inch 8K OLED display. This industry-leading product will be showcased at LG Display’s booth at CES 2018 in Las Vegas this month.

In retrospect, companies had already realized the only way to earn themselves new opportunities in such a mature market is to redevelop their technologies and gear up for niche markets with higher margins. LEDinside picks five trends that drove the LED industry this year and gives a quick analysis on what they will lead the industry to in 2018.

Samsung (SDC) currently dominates the small-sized OLED panel supply globally. As for the large-sized TV panel segment, SDC decides to focus on QLED, a quantum dot display technology. SDC used to promote curved TVs, but now it decides to change its course.

LG Display announced that the company started mass production at its new Gen 5 OLED light panel production line in Gumi, Korea and launched its new OLED light brand, Luflex. With these moves, the company will lead the lighting market, providing a powerful boost to the nascent sector globally. 

After carrying out its capacity expansion plans, major Chinese display maker BOE is reported to share the information about two of its new OLED production lines to Apple in order to win orders from the latter.

Vice Chairman of Korean panel maker LG Display (LGD) Sang-Beom Han announced in July that by the end of 2017, LCD panel Fab P2, P3, and P4 in Gumi would be shut down. Fab P4 is officially closed. Sources pointed out that LGD is accelerating the transformation to pare down LCD Lines.

“Serious TV Watchers” across Chicagoland will be treated to a unique, immersive consumer experience this weekend thanks to the “LG OLED TV Cinema House.” Powered by Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it combines the superior audio-visual performance of LG OLED 4K TVs with Dolby high dynamic range (HDR) and advanced audio technologies.

At 2:29 p.m. on November 15 of South Korea's local time (1:29 p.m. of Taiwan's local time), a 5.5-magnitude shock struck Korea's east coast. The epic center is located at 9 kilometers north to Pohang City, North Gyeongsang Province. Its depth was about 9 kilometers deep. About this surprising incident in Korea, WitsView, a division of TrendForce, analyzed that it influenced very little to the entire panel industry.

LG Display reported on October 25 unaudited earnings results based on consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending September 30, 2017.

LG Display sees the European market as a critical battleground for premium TVs and is committing heavily in the region to ensure that OLED technology is at the top of consumers’ consideration list this holiday season.

OLED panels manufactured by LG Display are regarded as high-quality products, which has already been proven by LG's OLED TV and recently-launched V30 smartphone. However, LG did not limit the adoption of its OLED panels in the range of consumer electronics. Recently, LG has presented OLED lighting panels as desk lamps.

CYNORA, a Germany-based provider of highly efficient organic emitter materials for OLEDs, announced that the two Korean tech giants have decided to support CYNORA on its way to becoming a major player for OLED emitting materials.

It has been spreading like crazy that in 2H17 three iPhone models- the high-end iPhone 8 featuring an OLED display, iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus that continue to use LCD displays- will hit the shelves. Latest sources leaked Apple might increase OLED display use in its products and all the three new iPhones to roll out in 2018 are likely to sport OLED displays. That possibly implies orders Apple places with LCD display providers Sharp and Japan Display Inc. (JDI) would plummet. It will be much of a shock to JDI which earns over 50% of its revenue from Apple’s phone screen demand.

Sumitomo Chemical, the Japan-based chemical giant, is reported to have successfully developed new technologies to facilitate more cost efficient OLED display manufacture. According to Nikkei, the new materials and equipment the company introduced could possibly bring down the current production cost of OLED panels by 50%, which is able to further reduce the selling prices of OLED TVs and expand the penetration of OLED products.  

The confirmation of Samsung Display (SDC) being Apple’s AMOLED panel supplier for the upcoming iPhone devices has spurred other smartphone brands and panel makers to aggressively invest in this display technology. The latest display market forecast by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds that AMOLED is set to become mainstream in the global smartphone market in the near future with the penetration rate reaching to almost 50% by 2020.

It seems Apple is planning on finding one more source of OLED displays for its iPhone. The Korea Herald reported that last month Apple talked with LG Display to invest around USD 1.75-2.62 billion into its new OLED plant, called E6.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display lately has been receiving market attention. Not only have Korean companies been working on the development, but recently, according to BusinessKorea, even Chinese firms have jumped into the competition.

LG Display (LGD) suffered a serious disruption to its production of large-size LCD panels on June 24, when a deadly accident occurred at its P8-1 panel fab in Paju, South Korea. The Gen-8.5 has been shut down for repair and investigation by the local authorities. WitsView, a division of TrendForce, states that this incident will have a major impact on the supply of large-size panels in the third quarter. While panel quotes have softened during the second quarter, the third quarter will see a return of seasonal demand from device vendors. The accident at P8-1 will contribute to a tightening of the supply and help prop up prices to some extent.

LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it has developed the world’s first 77-inch flexible and transparent OLED display. With this achievement, LG Display, recognized for its expertise in large-sized OLED technology, further reinforced its leadership in the global display industry.

LG Display is merging its businesses to specialize in OLED technology, a sector the company considers its next generation growth engine. To keep up with accelerated growth in the OLED market, the company intends to merge and restructure existing distributed business structure by product to optimize efficiency and synergy, reported Business Korea.

LG Display OLED light panels were installed at the LG SIGNATURE Pavilion, titled “The Art of Essence,” at IFA 2016 located on the grounds of Messe Berlin. The pavilion, in collaboration of LG Electronics and Jason Bruges Studio, was created to portray “the design philosophy and the core essence of sophistication and class” of the LG SIGNATURE products.

LG Display has supplied OLED light panels to Chang’s Custom, a Korean car customizing company, to create the world’s first van equipped with OLED interior lighting.