Sharp has announced that it will soon begin mass production of OLED displays for smartphones , making it the first Japanese company to do so.
Japan Display had previously indicated it would also begin production of OLED smartphone panels, but not until 2019 at the earliest.
Sharp hopes to enter mass production during the second quarter of 2018, with a view to its summer line of new smartphone models featuring the new displays.
Analyst Comment
The panels will be produced on some small scale production faciliities in Sharp’s Sakai campus. The volumes are likely to be quite restricted initially. Sharp has shown some very good OLEDs at SID in the past, but has not offered products for sale and this must partly be because it is so closely associated with LCD technology as one of the first companies to commercialise the technology and the first to build an LCD TV business. (BR)
