By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
The phones equipped with Samsung SDI’s 2.6- and 2.8-inch active matrix organic light emitting diode (AM OLED) panels will be sold for around 30,000 yen in Japan from late November, a company official said Wednesday.
``The OLED phones are highly likely to be sold in that price range,’’ an official from Samsung SDI told The Korea Times. The official, however, declined to elaborate further citing on the sensitivity of the issue.
The comment came after Samsung SDI struck a deal with Japan’s No. 2 mobile phone operator KDDI, Tuesday, to supply its OLED displays to KDDI-provided new premium handset lines in the world’s most mobile-penetrated market.
Samsung SDI and KDDI have agreed to use Samsung’s 2.6-inch AM OLED panel on the ``Infobar2’’ project model, while the 2.8-inch display goes to handsets via Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony Ericsson.
Japan, where mobile penetration has reached almost 80 percent, has been considered the most difficult market to penetrate, as stricter rules require handset makers to have perfect quality.
AM OLED displays have been called ``dream displays’’ as they are brighter and thinner than the current generation of liquid crystal and plasma displays. The displays are used in mobile phones, car electronics and other smaller devices.
According to DisplaySearch, a market research firm, the AM OLED market will grow to $5.58 billion by 2011, up from $220.5 million in 2007.
Samsung SDI said it will convert its facilities in Hungary making cathode-ray tubes for televisions to those focusing on more lucrative businesses including AM OLED.