What They Say
OLED Info conducted a survey about the idea of getting an OLED display in notebooks and suggested that there is a clear demand for OLEDs in that application, with 100 from 184 respondents saying they were ready to try an OLED. However, 18% are still concerned about the possibility of burn-in.
What We Think
As the site admits, its audience is nowhere near a random one and is self-selecting towards OLED supporters. Back almost 20 years ago, Barry Young, then of DisplaySearch, but later CEO of the OLED Association, said at one of our DisplayForum events that the optimum application for OLEDs was portable DVD players, where the combination of great video performance, lightness, lack of bulk and competitive efficiency were all advantages. It didn’t turn out this way as our portable smartphone handsets became the way that we consumed video, but those virtues are the reasons for OLED’s success in that market. Notebooks are probably the third best application (with tablets the second). Unfortunately, there is a substantial amount of evidence of the ergonomic benefits of black text on white backgrounds, which puts LCD at less of a power disadvantage than in video. Most video is in the 15% to 30% average brightness level, with movies at the lower end and sport and daytime TV nearer the high end. An LED with a fixed background backlight, rather than FALD or miniLED uses more power. However once you have full white screens, as I have on my PC as I edit this, OLED consumption rises and reduces its advantage.
There has also been a significant cost penalty to the adoption of OLEDs on notebooks. I think that has to decline significantly to really boost OLED penetration. Still, the additional revenue may be useful to notebook brands in the light of continuing component shortages, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see brands working hard on promotion. (BR)
