We are depressed and all because we are not depressed.
According to FlatpanelsHD, Universal Display Corporation (UDC), a leading developer and manufacturer of OLED display technology, announced during its second quarter financing announcement that the commercial debut of its blue phosphorescent OLED technology will be delayed until the second half of 2025.
Previously, the rollout was planned for the second half of 2024.
According to Korean newspaper The Elec, Samsung announced last fall that the launch of blue PHOLED TV technology has been postponed to the second half of 2025. This is in line with UDC’s schedule and could mean that the technology will not be available in homes until 2026 at the earliest.
PHOLED for everyone?
To understand why this delay is a bummer for the TV industry—and potentially your home theater—let’s refresh the basics. Red-green phosphorescent OLED technology has been around for a while. If you already own one of the best OLED TVs, you may even already have red and green PHOLEDs in your living room. In fact, part of the reason you own an OLED TV today is a direct result of the development of red-green PHOLEDs, as their material composition enables energy-efficient, longer-lasting OLED displays.
Developing blue PHOLEDs has proven more difficult, however, because blue requires a lot of energy to be, well, blue. All of that energy is converted into heat, and higher heat means a shorter shelf life for your new, fancy TV. Nobody wants to actively destroy their TV just by watching it, right?
For this reason, most OLED displays mix the two types. The LG C4 OLED, for example, combines red and green PHOLEDs with blue fluorescent OLEDs. A QD-OLED like the Samsung S95D uses only blue fluorescent OLEDs because it uses quantum dots to create red and green. Each TV goes about creating red, green and blue differently, but in both cases, blue is comparatively what just doesn’t carry the weight.
With integrated blue PHOLEDs, both TVs – and especially the QD-OLED – would be much more energy efficient. Your OLED TV would be cheaper to manufacture and would most likely last longer. There’s even a chance it would produce a brighter picture. In other words, everyone wins.
Commercially available blue PHOLEDs are currently out of reach – a blue dream if you will. So I say don’t throw away your OLED TV just yet.
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