Sharp plans to produce OLED panels for televisions

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The Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp seems to be planning to produce large OLED panels for televisions. The company wants to build two factories for this, which should be opened by the middle of next year.

According to the Japan Times, Sharp is investing 57.4 billion yen, or about 460 million euros, in the factories. Small OLED panels will be made in the factory in the Japanese city of Taki, for example for smartphones and laptops. The factory in Sakai is to be used for the production of large OLED displays for televisions. The factories should be completed by April or June next year.

Sharp already announced in 2013 that it planned to make OLED panels for televisions. The technology would be ready in 2016, but the company would not yet know whether it would produce the panels itself or offer the technology as a license to third parties. The company would like to distinguish itself from competitors such as Samsung and LG by using ‘unique materials’ for a better image quality.

It is not known what these ‘unique materials’ are and what technology the company intends to apply. The South Korean competitor LG holds the patents for OLED panels that work with white LEDs and a color filter. Partly because of these patents, Samsung has previously indicated that it does not see any benefit in the production of large OLED screens. Samsung’s technology with RGB LEDs is more sensitive to wear than LG’s technology, because the three sub pixels do not wear out as quickly, which over time results in a different color balance. This makes this technique less suitable for televisions, which must have a relatively long life.

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