LG Display manufactures blue phosphorescent OLED panel prototypes: Lower-power panels coming to smartphones

LG Display has proven it can make OLED panels with phosphorescent blue pixels on commercial manufacturing equipment that are as stable as traditional OLED panels in use today while offering lower power consumption. This innovation will help smartphone makers increase runtimes without increasing battery size.

Current blue pixel technology is inefficient, requiring a larger pixel to output the same amount of light as smaller red and green pixels, and the lifespan of blue pixels is shorter than red and green ones. The larger blue pixel has the side effect of creating unusual text artifacts that are noticeable despite creative pixel tiling.

Using phosphorescent blue instead of fluorescent blue in current OLED panels can immediately reduce power consumption by approximately 1/4 with better light output, but longevity suffers. LG has combined the use of a longer-lasting fluorescent layer that has a low emissive efficiency of 25% and a brighter phosphorescent layer that has a high emissive efficiency of 100% to produce a hybrid OLED panel that uses 15% less power.

Although the power reduction is not as great as a phosphorescent-only panel, the hybrid tandem OLED panel can potentially add hours of runtime to smartphones without increasing battery capacity. LG plans to demonstrate the technology at Display Week 2025, which will be held from May 11 to 16 in San Jose.