LG eyes to cement its place in OLED display signage market

Dubai: LG is aiming to cement its position in the OLED display signage market by showcasing a 0.4mm transparent screen.

Ben Her, senior director for information display at LG Electronics Middle East and North Africa, told Gulf News that more and more people are moving to unique product requirements because everybody wants to show a difference.

“That is where OLED comes into play. People want to use the transparent OLED glass display to show content and it is focused on retail, public infrastructure, transportation as well as hospitality sectors,” he said.

OLED technology emits light only when electricity is applied while LED requires backlighting.

Without the backlighting, OLEDs are more energy efficient, thinner and easier to make. OLED TVs feature a true black background, something LED displays can’t match right now.

“The rise in infrastructure expansions in the region and with Dubai aiming to be an entertainment hub by opening more theme parks and with Saudi Arabia opening more Cinema halls, there are growth opportunities for the display signage market,” he said.

Moreover, he said that the advancements in technology offerings and the ability to show vivid video content by the retailers to attract shoppers’ eyeballs is where the digital signage has seen a major deployment.

The 55-inch 4K one-piece transparent screen will be available in the second quarter of next year but LG did not disclose the price.

The company holds a world record for the largest video wall built from 820 panels of OLED signage at The Dubai Mall’s Dubai Aquarium.

According to research firm International Data Corporation, the global market for digital signage will continue to grow at rates of 10 per cent and 12 per cent year on year in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

IDC forecasts 3.5 million digital signage units to be shipped for this year and 4.4 million units by 2020.

Ben Her said that there are different factors to drive the demand due to the Expo 2020 and there are many events that are coming up in the region which will also drive the demand.

Even though OLED has had limited success penetrating the consumer TV market, Ben Her said there have been some notable developments recently in the digital signage market, where the physical attributes of OLED screens offer the potential for marketing products in new ways.

Jeff Yang, the assistant research manager of WitsView, a division of market intelligence provider TrendForce, said that an OLED TV can be thinner with potentials in a constant optimisation of colour saturation and contrast but the lifespan of organic material and burn-in remain issues for OLED TV.

Ben Her claims that the “screen burn in” issue was there initially but after removing certain components from the screen, their R&D department has innovated the product and now there is no issue of “burn in” in the commercial side.

“We are a global supplier of OLED to many top brands in the industry. OLED market share is increasing,” he said.