How far has the OLED display technology come since its conception in 1987? What types and specifications of OLED displays are currently available?

The first OLED paper ever published, "Organic Electroluminescent Diodes," was written by Ching Tang and Steven Van Slyke in 1987 while they were employed by Eastman Kodak and chronicled their groundbreaking work. It explained how they used a very thin multilayer structure, still used in modern OLEDs, to create the first viable OLED, which dramatically reduced drive voltage and allowed for high brightness. OLED technology has gained attention since that momentous day in 1987 for its capacity to offer high-performance image quality because of its inherent extraordinarily high contrast.

The development of OLED technology has been supported by numerous eminent institutions, including academia and significant businesses. The first business to demonstrate an active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) was TDK Inc. in 1996, and AMOLED is quickly becoming a highly feasible form of the technology. OLEDs have been produced in large quantities by Samsung and LG for use in televisions and mobile devices, passive-matrix OLEDs have been shipped into wearable technology by businesses like Visionox, and dozens of companies have started making significant billion-dollar investments in OLED technology.

According to market research firm IDTechEx, the market for plastic and flexible AMOLED displays will be close to $18 billion by 2020. Future uses for AMOLED include embedded displays in clothes, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) gadgets, helmets, wristbands, jewelry/watches, and gaming equipment. OLEDs are becoming a technology that can replace traditional lighting in addition to screens since they are effective, naturally produce diffuse lighting, and can change colors dynamically to fit the surroundings.

The car industry will also consume roughly $1 billion of the total AMOLED volume. For the sake of supporting safety, internal vehicle, and infotainment systems, many automakers are incorporating larger displays inside their automobiles. In order to give the driver a better, less distracting viewing angle while monitoring the various tasks, several strategies include curved displays, for which AMOLEDs are suitable, and displays that move mapping and navigation from the center-stack to the instrument cluster (the display right in front of the driver, where the speedometer typically resides). Display requirements will migrate from the present instrument cluster to the back, where the passenger may receive information and be entertained, as autonomous vehicles become commercially available.