China Kicks Off 6th-Gen Flexible OLED Production

Curved displays and flexible displays are all the rage right now and we are not complaining. According to a source, Tianma Micro-electronics Co., a display manufacturer based out of China, began production of the 6th-gen flexible OLED panel for smartphones at the Wuhan plant recently. The company initially planned to mass produce the panel from the second half of this year, however they preponed the operation date by three months. Using the backplane process through low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS), the company will produce 30,000 OLED panels a month. Tianma is the first Chinese company producing the 6th-generation flexible OLED panel.

Currently, Samsung is the big player when it comes to monopolizing the small and mid-size OLED market. As more smartphone manufacturers are starting to use OLED panels for their displays, the Chinese industry is now targeting the market earlier than expected. We recently came to know that LG Display plans to start mass production of the 6th-generation flexible OLED panel at the E5 plant in Gumi from June this year. with a monthly production of 15,000 units. However, Tianma Micro-electronics is already one step ahead in terms of production date and production capacity.

We’ll have to wait and see how these Chinese companies can raise the quality of small and mid-size OLED panels. As per reports from the electronics industry, Tianma has developed the small and mid-size OLED for years but its quality has been mediocre. Even LG Display, which excels in the large OLED market, is deliberate in the quality of small and mid-size panels when mass producing. Once every company joins the small and mid-size OLED market, high quality products will survive in the market. Until then, let’s see how long it takes for flagship smartphones to start shipping with these 6th-gen flexible displays.