December 2020

Samsung Electronics is now accepting pre-orders for its upcoming 110-inch 4K MicroLED TV, in Korea.

Customers who pre-order the TV (the price is 170 million Won, or about $155,000) will get a special bundle (home cinema package, refrigerator package or a travel package to Jeju island) in addition to a 7-year warranty (this will likely to be extended to all customers). Shipment will begin in March 2021.

Samsung Electronics announced that it will introduce its latest products, technologies and visions for the future of the display in its upcoming 'First Look 2021' event that will take place on January 6th 2021.

The teaser image shows all kinds of displays, it is likely to be an interesting event. Samsung may unveil its 110" 4K MicroLED TV which it already announced earlier this month, and analysts expect also some mini-LED monitors. Samsung could also showcase new OLED displays, maybe the QD-OLED monitors that it is reportedly developing.

VueReal announced that its patented flipchip structure demonstrated higher yields and lower costs compared to standard vertical LED process.

The company says that flipchip processes are favored by display makers, due to the easy integration they offer. Most processes, however suffer from low yields and a complex process. VueReal's process has achieved yields higher than 99.9%, and with a more automated fabrication line can even achieve higher yields.

2020 is soon over - and many in the world are really happy about that and hope that 2021 will bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end. The MicroLED industry still continues its fast pace of development, even through this catastrophic period.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on MicroLED-Info in 2020, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. A discussion on MicroLED efficiency - microLED displays (Oct 14)
2. LG to soon launch its first tiled microLED TV (Jul 25)
3. Will Apple, AUO and Epistar establish a mini-LED and micro-LED production fab? (May 12)
4. Samsung aims to start producing real microLED TVs in 2020 (Mar 10)
5. We talk MicroLED displays with VueReal's CEO (Feb 18)
6. Konka shows its APHAEA tiled MicroLED displays at CES 2020 (Jan 9)
7. PlayNitride launches new displays at SID 2020 (Aug 7)
8. Samsung shows its Wall Micro-LED TVs at CES 2020 (Jan 7)
9. Mojo Vision develops microLED-based AR contact lenses (Jan 20)
10. Innolux shows a 55" rollable mini-LED emissive display prototype (Aug 25)

Sony published a teaser video that says the company will unveil the "next breakthrough" in directview display technology" on January 6th. It is likely that Sony will release a new MicroLED display technology:

Sony was the the first company to introduce micro-LED large-area displays with its launch of the Crystal LED (also called Canvas LED, or CLEDIS) displays in 2016. The company introduced its displays to the residential market in September 2020.

During the 2020 Chongqing Micro-LED Industry Innovation Forum, Konka introduced the world's first MicroLED Watch, the APHAEA Watch. This groundbreaking product uses a 2-inch microLED display with a pixel pitch of 0.12 mm - which means the resolution is around 400x400. The MicroLED chips are 30 um in size.

It is not clear how close Konka is to commercialize this product - but in any case this is a great achievement and this is the world's first microLED wearable display shown in a real product. The display is produced on an LTPS backplane, it achieves a brightness of 1,500 nits and a color gamut of 147% DCI-P3. Konka says that battery life of this watch is up to 35 days.

A few days ago Samsung launched a new MicroLED TV, 110-inch 4K prefabricated (not tiled) display. Today Korean publication PulseNews revealed that the TV costs 170 million Won, or about $155,000. Preorders will start before the end of 2020 and the TVs will ship in Q1 2021.

This is a premium at-home TV display, that offers a "breathtaking visual experience" - but still this is an extremely high price that means Samsung will not be able to sell large numbers of its new TV.

France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia announced that it has produced its first nanowire microLED chips on 300 mm silicon wafers, at the CEA-Leti pilot line. Producing microLEDs on large wafers is more cost effective and will enable integration with smaller-node electronics.

Earlier this year Aledia announced that it plans to establish a 140 million euros LED production fab in Champagnier, near Grenoble in France. The company already raised 80 million Euros towards that goal. The new fab will use Veeco's 300 mm MOCVD systems.

Samsung launched a new MicroLED TV, 110-inch 4K panel. This is a per-fabricated TV, Samsung's first such microLED display (all previous ones were tiled and customizable). Samsung says the TVs are now on 'pre-sale' in Korea - but it did not disclose the price. The TVs will ship in Q1 2021.

Samsung says its microLED TV is a premium at-home TV display, that offers a "breathtaking visual experience". The TV features a 100% DCI and Adobe RGB color gamut, and Samsung says it offers accurate color reproduction and high brightness. The TV is based on Samsung's all-new Micro AI Processor.

Early in 2020 it was reported that Samsung is set to reveal its first MicroLED TVs to actually use micro-LEDs and not mini-LEDs, but later reported suggested that Samsung is struggling with technology issues and delaying its plans.

Samsung electronics announced yesterday that it will introduce a new MicroLED TV later this week. The company did not reveal any details, but it is likely that this will be the company's first "consumer" microLED TV - although likely a highly premium one.