As you may know CDS have been working hard over the past few months to bring together the best possible offering on TOLED display. However, today they have learnt some unfortunate news that Samsung has officially made the Transparent OLED Display Panel End of Life, which is the base panel used in all Transparent OLED products available on the market.
This means that CDS and other companies can no longer offer this product going forward. There has been talk of a Last Time Buy option but as it will not be supported in the future CDS do not think this is a good idea as any issues with the panels such as fragility and reliability could not be rectified or replaced which could be expensive for all concerned.
CDS Director Tony Large comments: “The EOL of TOLED is a really unfortunate situation for all concerned. Such is the nature of large scale Manufacture that without large volume take up on products, fabrication becomes impossible. Coupled with issues of production yield, and fragility, the outcome is not entirely unexpected. We are working closely with clients to develop alternative technologies based on proven TLCD technology.”
The reason for the EOL notice is quite simply that the global quantity is not enough for Samsung (or any other major manufacturer) to justify the investment. There is talk of LG also manufacturing Transparent OLED next year but CDS believe that with the Samsung decision this will now be in doubt if the market is not large enough to justify investment and production capacity. This will affect all companies offering the TOLED product.
The risk now is also that companies in the Far East, Europe and USA may want to offload product as soon as possible to avoid the risk of being stuck with unsupported parts, and this may also include B grade panels that were rejected for Tier 1 use but find their way into the “grey” market.
CDS offer advice to people that have committed to this product should try to cancel / return if possible due to the risk of no product and limited support going forward, or if customers are going to receive the product they should ensure they have 3+ year warranty for parts and labour to protect themselves and clients.
