Samsung and LG meeting with Lucid on cylindrical battery and dual-stack OLED display for new EV models

Samsung is seeing the car industry as its next engine of growth as "for the past decade it has been smartphones and PCs, but the company is now preparing to ride the rise of automotive and automobile," according to the CEO of its Electro-Mechanics division.

The new emphasis on the smart vehicles industry will be on full display when Samsung's Chairman Lee meets with US companies like the makers of the Lucid Air performance electric sedan, reports Korean media. He will be part of the presidential entourage when it comes for a state visit on April 26 and will meet with Lucid's CEO on the sidelines of a business roundtable with American companies. The topic of Samsung's discussion would be the supply of batteries, which Lucid now procures from both LG and Samsung. Samsung has 4680-style cylinder batteries in the works, so perhaps those might be of interest to Lucid as it tries to ramp up production of existing models and introduce new ones.

The case for new Lucid electric vehicle in the planning stages is further strengthened by a separate component discussion it is reportedly carrying out with LG, but for OLED display supply. Lucid is looking to procure a new 30-inch display size for its infotainment system  that is smaller than its current 34-inch LCD displays there. Either Lucid is preparing a mid-cycle redesign for its premium sedans, or it is working on a brand new, perhaps smaller and cheaper electric vehicle. The OLED displays it wants to order from LG are apparently of the type that offers enhanced longevity of more than 10 years without degradation and their production will start in Q4.

LG is currently the sole manufacturer of these dual-stack tandem OLED displays for automotive applications and it screens can be found in premium electric cars. The pillar-to-pillar Hyperscreen on the Mercedes EQS, for instance, uses a dual-stack OLED by LG. Fusing two OLED layers in tandem is more expensive to make but doubles the brightness and longevity compared to the single-stack OLEDs. Samsung is also looking to perfect the tandem OLED screen technology, but LG is ahead in that game and may be supplying dual-stack OLED for Apple's future iPads and even Macs whose life cycle is typically longer than the iPhone's.

Get the unlocked Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra on Amazon