AMOLED Impact to Remain Slight Says EIH
AMOLED will only have a slight negative impact on FFS (fringe field switching) wide-angle LCD display technology over the next 2-3 years, according to EPD (electrophoretic display) e-paper maker E Ink Holdings (EIH).
EIH licenses high-resolution FFS wide-angle LCD display technology developed by its South Korea-based subsidiary Hydis Technologies and expects royalty revenues in 2016 to decrease 5-10% on year due to the impact of AMOLED.
While adoption of AMOLED panels for smartphones is on the rise, it is not easy for AMOLED to become mainstream technology in the near future because AMOLED panels entail comparatively high production cost, EIH said.
Currently, EIH has 70% of consolidated revenues coming from e-paper used in e-book readers and 30% from other e-paper applications and small- to medium-size TFT-LCD panels.
Amazon is EIH's largest client for e-paper used in e-book readers and has adopted EIH-developed e-paper technology Carta for Kindle Oasis, its latest e-book reader launched in April 2016.
For applications other than those for e-book readers, EIH has developed Mobius, a 2.9-inch e-paper display turnkey solution and has been in strategic cooperation with Japan-based Dai Nippon Printing to tap the Japan and Southeast Asia e-paper markets.
Dai Nippon Printing has adopted EIH-developed Prism color-variable e-paper technology for digital signage used in retail stores and flexible Mobius e-paper technology for NFC-enabled smart bank cards. In addition, EIH has cooperated with Slovenia-based Visionect to develop a development kit for designing 6- to 32-inch e-paper digital signage solutions.