This 4K OLED display was printed by an inkjet – watch it in action
Inkjet OLED TVs are coming
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Inkjet-printedOLEDpanels are inching closer towards the market – and we now have an video of thebudget OLEDtechnology in action.
Taiwanese display manufacturer AU Optronics has released a video of its inkjetOLEDprototype, showcasing a32-inch TVdisplay with an OLED panel, 1,440Hz refresh rate, and4K resolution(viaOLED-info).
Jennifer Lin, Senior Associate Vice President of AU Optronics, narrates the video, saying that the company has been “invested in the development of inkjet printing for a long time”, and that the benefits of OLED’s rich color performance makes it ideal for “medical or gaming applications”.
As a4Kdisplay at a 32-inch size, it’s certainly more in the realm of a4K monitorthat a TV, and the 144Hz refresh rate puts it firmly ingaming monitorterritory.
Lin also stresses the importance of “eco-friendly” manufacturing through OLED – something we’ve heard a lot about recently, withLGDisplay stating thatOLED TVsuse a fraction of the plastic of an LCD orQLEDscreen, and havemuch lower power usage due to the low-brightness output of its self-emissive panels.
The inkjet printing process is said to use far fewer materials in manufacture, achieved by printing the OLED panel directly and eschewing the “conventional, fine metal mask evaporation technology” used by LG Display for its OLED screens. It’s also said to be an avenue to reduce production costs, with point-of-purchaseretail prices expected to drop 15-25%compared to traditional OLED TVs of the same size.
Change is coming
This is just a prototype, of course, but it’s clear that interest in inkjet OLED printing is growing.TCLhas confirmed plans tobegin production of inkjet screens by 2023, with sets expected to release to market the year after (you can see of video of TCL’s tech at the bottom of this article, too).
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Inkjet may hold promise for rollable OLED screens too. While LG has brought itsrollable OLED TVto market, and a number of rollable smartphones have started to emerge, it’s still a very experimental technology that can be prone to breakages. When theSamsungGalaxy Fold first launched, it quickly gained a bad reputation for how quickly even testing units broke in the hands of reviewers – only using the handset for matter of days.
We know that LG’s rollable OLED TV is guaranteed for up to50,000 unfurlings, though AU Optronics claims its rollable phone screen prototype has “passed 100,000 times rolling test, proving the technology’s reliability” – and it’s clear that this technology is improving all the time.
Check out TCL’s inkjet OLED panels in action below too –
Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.
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