Samsung is to introduce a mobile handset on the consumer market with an active matrix (AM) OLED display.
The SCH-W690 is a clamshell design HSDPA handset that will be introduced initially in the Korean market.
Its significance is the incorporation of a 2.6 inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 240x320 pixels and 262k colours.
It is known that Samsung is making a major push of OLED technology for flat panel televisions. It already has a 40 inch OLED panel TV and there is speculation that a 50 inch version will be shown at CES in January.
The Korean company is working on techniques to make the volume manufacture of OLEDs more cost effective. One technique includes a change to the drive transistors using amorphous oxide TFT technology.
Similarly, for mobile phone displays the use of active matrix technology which drives the panel directly is seen as a means of producing more cost effective higher resolution displays.
Unlike standard passive OLEDs, AMOLED applies independent RGB driving method which is claimed to have resolution and colour density advantages. The problem is the manufacture of AMOLEDs is more complex and costly.
In November, Samsung grabbed the headlines with the first folding mobile phone display based on its active matrix OLED technology.
Intensity is 200Cd/m² and claimed life is 20,000 hours, credited to "thin film encapsulation". If this display has plastic substrates, as opposed to two glass substrates folding together, this is an exceptional lifetime.
See also: Electronics Weekly's roundup of content related to LEDs, with a special focus on both white LEDs and coloured LEDs:
LED technology - White LEDs
LED technology - Coloured LEDs
LED technology - LEDs general
LED technology - OLEDs
LED technology - LEDs Lighting