Shock as Transparent OLED Display goes End of Life!

July 27, 2016
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 have learnt some unfortunate news that 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 we 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 we 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 we 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.
Our 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 you are going to receive the product ensure you have 3+ year warranty for parts and labour to protect themselves and clients.
CDS appreciate the problems this could / will cause customers so are helping as many customers as they can to offer alternative solutions whilst still giving them long term availability, quality and excellent service. They can call us on the following Telephone number in the UK +44 (0)1634 327 420 or email us on [email protected] .

Contact:

Tony Large, Technical Director, +44 (0)1634 327 420