Anoto Group AB announces that Anoto, after being evaluated since the summer of 2020, has been commissioned to develop a digital screen pen for Samsung Display Co., Ltd.’s foldable OLED screens for mobile phones, tablets and PCs.
Under the agreement, Anoto will be paid for the development of the pen (development period is expected to end 4Q 2022). After the development is finished, Samsung intends to start mass production, and Anoto will then be paid royalty for each pen sold under a future license agreement.
“We are of course very proud of the recognition of our technology that this agreement represents. But more importantly, the agreement is structured so that Anoto bears zero financial risk but shares the financial upside. It means that Anoto will receive payments from day one covering all costs associated with the development,” says Joonhee Won, CEO of Anoto.
Foldable mobile phones, tablets and PCs are the next big digital trend, and Samsung is the manufacturer that without any doubt has taken this technology the furthest with several already released models. The challenge of foldable OLED screens is the thinness and size of the screen that prohibits established screen pen solutions to be used due to costs and size. Anoto’s proprietary dot pattern technology and pen therefore presents a unique value proposition and a viable solution to this latest screen technology.
“An additional advantage of Anoto’s solution for foldable OLED screens is that it is cheaper compared to other established technologies,” says Joonhee Won.
According to Samsung’s own newsletter published on 26 October 2021, https://www.samsungdisplay.com/eng/media/news/detail/ssdsNews-211026.jsp,
foldable OLED shipments are (according to the global technology research firm Omdia) expected to increase tenfold in 2028, reaching 105.49 million units compared to 10 million in 2021. It is further stated that with a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40%, sales for year 2028 are expected to reach $10 billion.
“The cooperation with Samsung has great potential to become the biggest opportunity in Anoto’s history. The financial value of an upcoming license agreement with Samsung cannot be assessed as of today as the value depends on the features of the finished pen and future sales,” says Jörgen Durban, Chairman of the Board of Anoto.
About Anoto Group
Anoto is a publicly held Swedish technology company known globally for innovation in the area of information-rich patterns and the optical recognition of those patterns. It is a leader in digital writing and drawing solutions, having historically used its proprietary technology to develop smartpens and related software. These smartpens enrich the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Anoto currently has three main business lines: Livescribe retail, Enterprise Forms and OEM. Anoto also owns Knowledge AI, a leading AI based education solution company, as its majority-controlled subsidiary. Anoto is traded on the Small Cap list of Nasdaq Stockholm under ANOT.
