By Marie-France Han and Rhee So-eui
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung SDI Co. (006400.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's top mobile display maker, expects prices of its next-generation flat screens to fall to the same level as liquid crystal displays by 2010, a senior executive said.
"By 2010, AM-OLED will become cost-competitive," Chung Ho-kyoon, Samsung SDI's chief technology officer, said on Tuesday at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.
Chung was referring to a new display technology -- offering brighter screens and lower power use -- which Samsung SDI hopes to mass-produce from the third quarter of this year and, by 2009, to use in television sets.
At present, the price of an AM-OLED mobile display is roughly 60 percent higher than LCDs.
Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said last month it planned to start selling ultra-thin TVs using OLED technology this year. A joint venture between Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is also investing in OLED technology.
Local rival LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. (034220.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is also expected to enter the market sooner or later.
AM-OLED screens -- standing for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode -- are seen as a promising display technology because they produce brighter images, respond faster and consume less power.
Makers were hoping the new display would quickly replace LCD on high-end multimedia mobile phones and portable media players, but demand has remained sluggish so far as handset makers, locked in a price battle, have been reluctant to buy the more expensive product.
AM-OLED display makers also face serious technical challenges in their efforts to expand the lifespan of their products -- a key requirement for a technology that wants to move from mobile phones to televisions.
"Currently, our technology is about 20,000 hours. It should have at least 50,000 hours or more for TV application," Chung said. "Our target is by 2009 we will meet this requirement."
Despite the technical and financial obstacles the slim, lightweight and energy efficient displays are seen as a candidate to make an ideal mobile TV, analysts say.
Further ahead, Chung said, AM-OLEDs could be used on flexible or transparent supports such as fabric and glass.
"That's when we will see real differentiation (with other display technologies)," Chung said.
Samsung SDI, which makes plasma displays and traditional cathode-ray tubes (CRT) for TVs, has been struggling with sliding prices and low shipments in the midst of intensifying competition with LCD screens.
Plasma makers appear to have no choice but to wait for consumer demand to move up to the 50-inch-and-bigger category, where PDPs are expected to remain cheaper than LCDs for the next two or three years. Continued...
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