Samsung Display
More actions
| Samsung Display | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Display panels |
| Founded | 1 April 2012 |
| Headquarters | Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea |
| Notable Personnel | Yi Chung (President and CEO) |
| Products | OLED and QD-OLED panels, OLEDoS (micro-OLED) microdisplays |
| Parent | Samsung Electronics |
| Website | https://www.samsungdisplay.com/eng/index.jsp |
Samsung Display (Samsung Display Co., Ltd.) is a South Korean display panel manufacturer and a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. It was established on 1 April 2012 and is headquartered in Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.[1][2] The company makes OLED panels for smartphones, tablets, laptops, monitors, wearables and cars, and QD-OLED panels for televisions and monitors; it lists about 54,000 employees as of 2025.[1]
In virtual reality and augmented reality, Samsung Display is a developer of OLED on Silicon (OLEDoS) microdisplays, the class of micro-OLED panels used in high-resolution headsets and smart glasses. It bought the American OLED microdisplay maker eMagin in 2023, citing the growth potential of XR devices.[3][2] In November 2025, Korean and trade press reported that Samsung Display had begun mass-producing OLEDoS panels as a second supplier, alongside Sony, for the Samsung Galaxy XR headset.[4][5]
History
Formation (2012)
In February 2012 Samsung Electronics announced that it would spin off its LCD business into a separate company that would launch on 1 April 2012 with 7.5 trillion won (about 6.6 billion US dollars) in capital. Donggun Park, executive vice president of the LCD business, said the spin-off would allow quicker business decisions.[6] According to the company, on 1 July 2012 Samsung Display was formally established by combining Samsung Electronics' LCD business, S-LCD Corporation and Samsung Mobile Display.[7] S-LCD had been Samsung's LCD joint venture with Sony, which left the partnership in 2011. Engadget reported that the merged company had 39,000 employees and seven production facilities, and that Oh-hyun Kwon, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, was elected to lead it.[8]
QD-OLED and the end of LCD production
Samsung Display began mass production of QD-OLED panels, in which light from an OLED layer passes through a quantum dot color conversion layer, in November 2021.[9][7] FlatpanelsHD, citing Korean press, reported that full-scale production would start on 30 November 2021 with 55-inch and 65-inch television panels and a 34-inch monitor panel; the company presented panels in those sizes at CES 2022.[7][10] In May 2022 The Korea Times reported that Samsung Display would end LCD panel production in June 2022, about six months earlier than planned, amid falling LCD panel prices and intense price competition from Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. LCD staff were to move to the quantum dot business.[11]
Leadership
Joo Sun Choi was President and CEO when the eMagin deal was signed and completed in 2023.[3][2] In November 2024 Samsung named Yi Chung, then head of the mobile display business, as Samsung Display's new chief executive; Choi moved to lead the battery maker Samsung SDI.[12] The company's English website lists the CEO as Chung Yi,[1] and in September 2026 the Seoul Economic Daily referred to him as Lee Chung, president of Samsung Display.[13]
XR work
Early VR panels
At SID Display Week 2018 in Los Angeles, Samsung Display showed a VR OLED display at 1,200 pixels per inch; it said that combining two of these displays in a 2.43-inch design gave a resolution of 3,840x2,160, twice that of premium smartphones of the time, without a visible screen door effect. The same release described "AR light field" technology aimed at 3D augmented reality.[14] OLED-Info listed the flagship panel at 120 Hz and 250 nits, shown alongside a 3.5-inch 1440x1600 (616 PPI) panel and a 3.2-inch 1824x1824 (806 PPI) panel, both at 90 Hz.[15]
Panels in other companies' headsets
Samsung's panels have appeared in headsets made by other companies. Writing about the Samsung Odyssey Plus in October 2018, Road to VR noted that Samsung supplied displays to other VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.[16] In June 2021 Bloomberg, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Sony's next-generation PlayStation VR headset, later released as PlayStation VR2, would use new OLED displays from Samsung.[17]
Acquisition of eMagin
On 17 May 2023 eMagin Corporation, a maker of active-matrix OLED microdisplays for AR/VR and other near-eye products based in Hopewell Junction, New York, signed a merger agreement with Samsung Display. Samsung Display agreed to pay 2.08 US dollars per share in cash, a deal valued at about 218 million US dollars. Joo Sun Choi said the company expected XR devices to have "significant potential of growth in the future" and that eMagin's technology would strengthen Samsung's XR-related business.[3]
eMagin announced completion of the acquisition on 18 October 2023. It kept its name and its Hopewell Junction facilities, and its shares stopped trading on NYSE American. eMagin said that with Samsung Display's help it would accelerate development of its direct patterning technology (dPd).[2][18] At AWE USA 2025, Samsung Display described eMagin as a wholly owned subsidiary.[19]
OLEDoS development
Samsung Display calls its micro-OLED panels OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon), because the OLED is built on a silicon wafer. It develops two kinds. White OLEDoS uses white OLED subpixels under a color filter, which UploadVR describes as the approach of existing micro-OLED displays. RGB OLEDoS emits red, green and blue light directly; the company says that, without a color filter, it has higher light efficiency and a longer lifespan.[20][21]
At Display Week 2025 in San Jose, Samsung Display showed a 1.4-inch RGB OLEDoS panel at 5,000 PPI, which it said holds three times the pixels of a 4K television.[9][19] UploadVR listed it at 15,000 nits raw brightness, 99% DCI-P3 and 120 Hz, beside a second 1.3-inch 3888x3888 panel at 20,000 nits. It explained that pancake lenses and low-persistence driving cut the brightness reaching the eye to a small fraction of the panel's raw output, so the higher figures could make headsets brighter or allow shorter illumination per frame. UploadVR also noted that Samsung described both panels as research and development products.[21] The 5,000 PPI panel won the People's Choice Award in the AR/VR/MR demo product category at Display Week 2025.[19]
Samsung Display first exhibited at AWE USA in June 2025 in Long Beach, California. It showed the 1.3-inch RGB OLEDoS at 4,200 PPI and 20,000 nits using a micro lens array, and said this followed a 5,000-nit version at SID 2024 and a 10,000-nit version at CES 2025. Binocular demonstration units used a 1.3-inch RGB OLEDoS (4,200 PPI, 12,000 nits) and a 1.3-inch White OLEDoS (4,000 PPI, 10,000 nits). eMagin showed 0.62-inch White and RGB OLEDoS panels at 2,600 PPI; the company said the white version was already in mass production and the RGB version was due for mass production the following year.[19]
At AWE USA 2026 (16-18 June 2026), Samsung Display showed a 1.3-inch RGB OLEDoS rated at 40,000 nits, prototype AR smart glasses with a 0.62-inch RGB OLEDoS showing translation, navigation and weather information, and a prototype mixed reality headset with RGB OLEDoS.[20] OLED-Info described the 40,000-nit panel as the brightest OLED microdisplay Samsung Display had demonstrated, double the 20,000 nits shown in May 2025, and reported that the company planned an RGB OLEDoS production line expected to reach mass production in 2028.[22]
Galaxy XR panel supply
The Samsung Galaxy XR launched with OLEDoS panels from Sony only.[5] In November 2025, SamMobile and GSMArena, citing Korean media reports (GSMArena named ETNews), wrote that Samsung Display had begun mass-producing OLEDoS panels for the headset after passing Samsung Electronics' reliability evaluation and receiving its first order from Samsung Electronics the previous month. It became a second supplier alongside Sony; the volume it would supply was not disclosed.[4][23] GSMArena described the panels as 1.3-inch white OLED on silicon with color filters, at 3,552 x 3,840 pixels per eye.[23] OLED-Info reported that Samsung Display had started pilot OLEDoS production in 2024 and had originally planned full mass production for 2026.[5]
Products
Samsung Display's product lines, as listed on its website, are OLED panels for smartphones, tablets, laptops, IT products, wearables and cars, and QD-OLED panels for televisions and monitors.[1] Its XR-related displays are listed below.
| Year | Event | Display | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | SID Display Week | VR OLED, 1,200 PPI | 3,840x2,160 from two displays in a 2.43-inch design (Samsung); 120 Hz, 250 nits per OLED-Info[14][15] |
| 2025 | SID Display Week | 1.4-inch RGB OLEDoS, 5,000 PPI | 15,000 nits raw brightness, 99% DCI-P3, 120 Hz per UploadVR; research and development[21] |
| 2025 | SID Display Week, AWE USA | 1.3-inch RGB OLEDoS, 4,200 PPI | 20,000 nits with micro lens array[19] |
| 2025 | AWE USA (eMagin) | 0.62-inch White and RGB OLEDoS, 2,600 PPI | White version in mass production; RGB version scheduled for 2026 mass production[19] |
| 2025 | Mass production (reported) | 1.3-inch OLEDoS for Samsung Galaxy XR | 3,552 x 3,840 per eye; second supplier alongside Sony[23] |
| 2026 | AWE USA | 1.3-inch RGB OLEDoS, 40,000 nits | Shown with 0.62-inch RGB OLEDoS smart glasses and an MR headset prototype[20] |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Company Overview - Company Details". Samsung Display. https://www.samsungdisplay.com/eng/intro/company-overview.jsp. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Samsung Display Completes Acquisition of eMagin". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (eMagin Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1). eMagin Corporation. 2023-10-18. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1046995/000110465923109777/tm2328594d1_ex99-1.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "eMagin Enters Into Definitive Merger Agreement With Samsung Display". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (eMagin Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1). eMagin Corporation. 2023-05-17. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1046995/000110465923061652/tm2315987d1_ex99-1.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mihai Matei (2025-11-10). "Samsung Display is now making Galaxy XR OLEDoS panels alongside Sony". SamMobile. https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-display-is-now-making-galaxy-xr-oledos-panels-alongside-sony/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ron Mertens (2025-11-11). "Samsung Display starts to mass produce OLED microdisplays, to be 2nd supplier for the Galaxy XR". OLED-Info. https://www.oled-info.com/samsung-displays-starts-mass-produce-oled-microdisplays-be-2nd-supplier-galaxy. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Sean Buckley (2012-02-20). "Samsung spinning off LCD business". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-02-20-samsung-spinning-off-lcd-business.html. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "[10 Year Anniversary A Decade of Samsung Display's Historic Moments"]. Samsung Display Newsroom. 2022-07. https://global.samsungdisplay.com/30222/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Terrence O'Brien (2012-07-02). "Samsung merges S-LCD and mobile display units under Samsung Display umbrella". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2012-07-02-samsung-merges-s-lcd-and-mobile-display-units-under-samsung-disp.html. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Samsung Display Unveils Advanced R&D Achievements at Display Week 2025". Samsung Display Newsroom. 2025-05-13. https://global.samsungdisplay.com/31366. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Rasmus Larsen (2021-11-23). "Report: Samsung Display to start mass-production of 34, 55 and 65" QD-OLED on Nov 30". FlatpanelsHD. https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1637671227. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Lee Kyung-min (2022-05-29). "Samsung Display to close LCD business". The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/business/companies/20220529/samsung-display-to-close-lcd-business. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Jie Ye-eun (2024-11-28). "Samsung Display taps mobile display chief as new CEO". The Korea Herald. https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10011879. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Seo Jong-gap (2026-09-18). "Samsung Display President Says Korea Still Leads China in Foldable Tech". Seoul Economic Daily. https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/09/18/samsung-display-ceo-says-korea-still-leads-china-in. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Samsung Display Reveals Automotive OLED Display Solutions and Other Dazzling Technology at 'SID Display Week 2018'". Samsung Display. 2018-05-22. https://www.samsungdisplay.com/eng/media/news/detail/ssdsNews-180522.jsp. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Ron Mertens (2018-05-29). "Samsung Display unveils new VR AMOLED displays at SID 2018". OLED-Info. https://www.oled-info.com/samsung-display-unveils-new-vr-amoled-displays-sid-2018. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Ben Lang (2018-10-23). "Samsung Odyssey+ Windows VR Headset Revealed with "Anti-SDE" Display". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/samsung-odyssey-plus-price-anti-sde-display/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Ben Lang (2021-06-17). "Report: Sony Targeting Holiday 2022 Launch for Next-gen PSVR with OLED Display". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/sony-psvr-2-rumored-release-date-holiday-2022-oled-display/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ "eMagin Corp Form 8-K filing index (Item 2.01: Completion of Acquisition)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2023-10-18. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1046995/000110465923109777/0001104659-23-109777-index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 "Samsung Display Showcases OLEDoS Leadership at AWE USA, the World's Largest XR Exhibition". Samsung Display Newsroom. 2025-06-11. https://global.samsungdisplay.com/31374. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 "Samsung Display Sets Sights on Next-Gen XR Innovations at AWE USA". Samsung Display Newsroom. 2026-06-17. https://global.samsungdisplay.com/31467. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 David Heaney (2025-05-13). "Samsung Unveils Advanced 5K Micro-OLED Display For "Next-Gen" Headsets". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/samsung-unveils-bright-4k-micro-oled-displays-for-next-generation-headsets/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ Ron Mertens (2026-06-17). "Samsung Display demonstrates a 40,000 direct-emission OLED microdisplay". OLED-Info. https://www.oled-info.com/samsung-display-demonstrates-40000-direct-emission-oled-microdisplay. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 "Samsung Display has started manufacturing micro-OLED displays for the Galaxy XR". GSMArena. 2025-11-10. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_display_has_started_manufacturing_microoled_displays_for_the_galaxy_xr-news-70223.php. Retrieved 2026-10-06.