The South Korean display maker is developing the panels to win orders from Apple for its OLED iPads expected to launch in 2024, the sources said.
Having a two-cell structure – as opposed to the single-cell structure currently manufactured by Samsung Display – doubles the brightness of the OLED panel while its lifespan is expected to quadruple.
Samsung Display has named the set of materials for the new OLED panels in the T series, the T stands for tandem.
The OLED panels will be targeted at tablet, laptop and automotive applications. Thus, it is expected widely than Cupertino launches its first iPad with an OLED panel in 2024. It is also expected to apply OLED panels to its MacBook and iMac lines later.
As these products tend to be used longer than smartphones, Apple has in the past expressed a preference for using OLED panels with two-stack structures for its display panel suppliers, such as Samsung Display.
All of the OLED panels in iPhones currently have a single-stack structure, which Samsung Display uses its M-series of material to make.
Samsung Display aims to first develop the T1 material set and obtain customer evaluation. Their goal is to apply the material for commercial production in 2023.
For the successor of the set, T2, Samsung Display currently aims to start commercial production in 2024.
OLED panels made with the T2 material set will likely be the first panels used by Apple for its iPads, based on this timeline. However, this is not set in stone and Samsung Display could launch another successor set called T3 sooner or later.
Samsung Display is likely to first supply OLED panels made with the T-series to Samsung Electronics, its parent company.
This will allow Samsung Electronics to maintain hardware leadership over Apple. by first applying it to its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Book series, while Samsung Display has the opportunity to verify the productivity of the panels before presenting them to Cupertino.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics plans to use OLED panels with a single-stack structure made from Samsung Display’s M12R material suite for high-end laptops and tablets it will launch this year.
The M12 set has been used for smartphone OLED panels. The R in M12R stands for rigidas it is a customized version of the original material set designed for OLED panels in IT products such as laptops and tablets.
Samsung Display currently uses its A2 production line in South Korea to make rigid OLED panels for IT products.
Meanwhile, the M12 assembly will be used to make OLED panels that will be used in Samsung’s foldable phones due to launch later this year, as well as Apple’s iPhone 14 series.
What’s more, Samsung Display had worked with Apple in the past on a 10.86-inch OLED iPad project, which was canceled sometime during the third quarter of last year.
The South Korean display panel maker had launched a single-stack structure, but Apple had said it wanted a two-stack structure instead. The project failed due to
Samsung Display’s rival, LG Display, already makes OLED panels with a two-cell structure for cars.
LG Display’s latest OLED panel sample intended for iPads received top marks in a recent evaluation by Apple. LG Display’s oxide thin-film transistor technology used for the panel was also well received by the iPhone maker.
The challenge in a two-stack structure is to get the charge generation layer, or CGL, to control the flow of charge to the same locations in the two emission layers, otherwise this will negatively affect color purity and brightness of the red, green and blue pixels in the two layers.
So it goes without saying that another brand, LG, is not the only one working at top speed to make the OLED screens for the next iPad.
Source: Eluniverso
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