When we see recent news about the big investments in transparent OLEDs, we can notice how much it will change how we view things in the future. The focus of this article is on digital signage and transparent OLEDs, although, at some point, it was questionable whether transparent OLEDs could offer a future for TV.
OLEDs
Before delving through the article, let’s define what we mean by an OLED. An OLED is an acronym for organic light-emitting diode, where thin and flat layers of organic molecules emit light in response to an electrical current. Unlike other forms of lighting (i.e. LED), OLEDs function without the presence of a backlight. This interesting technology has been embedded into everyday use products, since they are considered lightweight and thin.
Transparent OLEDs and investments
Back to investments in transparent OLEDs, for instance, Samsung is planning toinvest $3.6 billion in OLED display production, where the focus will be on medium and small-sized OLED displays for consumer devices, such as tablets and smartphones.
Another example of such investment, is what Planar Systems, Inc. – a maker of display and digital signage technology – announced recently about its new transparent OLED technology. OLED technology will be utilized in order to improve the transparency of the see-through displays, provided that such transparent displays allow the viewer to see what is displayed on the glass video screen, while still being able to see through that screen.
NanoMarkets, in their report, believe that tablets and smartphones will be the primary target of the transparent panel manufacturers. For instance, the market of transparent OLED displays in cell phones will be growing to $24 million in 2017, $119 million in 2019, and $447 million by 2021. For tablets, transparent OLED display revenues are along to roughly $9 million in 2018, and raising to $183 million by 2021.
OLEDs and digital signage
It seems that older studies had promising insights towards OLEDs and signage. For instance, Sprengard, et. al., in their 2004 study, concluded that OLEDs for display applications are commercially taking-off. Lighting applications are seen on the horizon, and OLEDs for signage applications will find first implementation in the next years.
A report by Institut Photonische Mikrosysteme also reveals that OLEDs possess many features that are deemed interesting for signage applications. The special unique feature the report emphasizes is:
The transparent signage and the lightning panels, such that, in off-state, the device would be transparent, while in on-state, the OLED panel generates light in both directions. Such unique feature gives the opportunity for new applications like bi-directional signage.
In conclusion
From old studies that predicted the market of OLEDs in signage, the huge OLED investments we are reading about in the news, the dramatically increasing revenues in the OLED market, to the new digital signage products being revealed to the public, we can conclude that OLEDs are shaping a new digital signage market, which seems to be the future market transparent panel manufacturers need to be aware of and work towards.
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