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Asia Nikkei: Japan Display swimming in red ink

G

ggx2ac

Member
Link: http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Com...ng-in-red-ink-after-missing-Apple-wave?page=1

The relevance of this news is that Japan Display Inc. is the supplier of the LCD screens for the Nintendo Switch. The following has occurred.

Reports of having a net loss for the third year in a row:

The major LCD panel manufacturer on Wednesday reported a group net loss of 31.6 billion yen ($277 million) for the year ended in March. The third consecutive year of net losses came despite Chairman Mitsuru Homma expressing hope for a annual profit as recently as February.
Click to expand...


Repeatedly bad financial performance:

Japan Display continued a familiar pattern, having repeatedly downgraded earnings forecasts since its stock listing in 2014. President Shuji Aruga said at the earnings briefing that he felt "greatly responsible" for the disappointing result. Homma was a no-show.
Click to expand...


Loss in LCD panel sales due to production yields:

The red ink sprung mainly from the business of supplying liquid crystal display panels for smartphones, which generates roughly 80% of the company's sales. Japan Display struggled to keep output flowing smoothly, beset by delays in improving the production yield of a new type of panel.
Click to expand...


Plans for boosting sales for LCD panels in other electronic devices look pessimistic:

Japan Display said during Wednesday's briefing that it aims to counter the setback in smartphone panels by boosting sales of LCD panels for other electronic devices, such as automotive displays. But this segment looks unprepared to deliver, accounting for only around 10% of the company's sales.
Click to expand...


Expected losses in sales next financial year due to Apple switching over to OLED panels:

Apple, the source of roughly half of Japan Display's sales, is expected to use an OLED panel on the iPhone for the first time with the new model set for release in the fall. This change could sink Japan Display's fiscal 2017 sales by 20% compared with a year earlier, according to some estimates.
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Expecting losses of LCD sales due to Apple's influence towards Chinese Smartphone makers:

Apple's shift toward OLED panels likely will prompt Chinese smartphone makers to follow suit, since they have grown by imitating the U.S. tech giant. This poses a serious threat to Japan Display's plan to capture market share for its LCD panels among high-end Chinese-made models.
Click to expand...


Lateness in anticipating the shift to OLED panels:

With its eyes fixed on LCDs, Japan Display kicked off production at a 190 billion yen panel plant in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture in December. Though the company has the technology to manufacture OLED panels, it is unable to ready production in time to supply them to Apple in 2018, Aruga said, in essence admitting management's failure to anticipate a major shift in the industry.
Click to expand...


The competition Japan Display have to deal with for OLED panels:

Samsung, by contrast, has invested billions of dollars to raise its OLED production capacity. Fellow South Korean manufacturer LG Display is expected to begin supplying Apple in 2018.
Click to expand...


Quick summary of who Japan Display Inc. are and a change in leadership next month:

Japan Display was created five years ago through a merger of the LCD panel operations at major Japanese electronics manufacturers under the lead of the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan. Still the top shareholder, the public-private investment fund has enlisted Nobuhiro Higashiiriki, president of Japanese OLED panel developer JOLED, to take the helm at Japan Display next month to try to change course.
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Keep in mind that Japan Display were already bailed out at the end of last year:

Japan Display Inc. on Wednesday said it would receive ¥75 billion ($636 million) in aid from its largest shareholder, the government-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan.
Click to expand...


The shift to OLED production worldwide means we could finally have more devices with OLED screens at cheaper costs in the next few years.

For example, Sony have come back to OLED TVs and are releasing on June 10 the Bravia A1 (A1E for US) which is an OLED TV (OLED panels supplied by LG Display, Sony no longer manufacture them in-house) with no conventional speakers. It uses the OLED screen itself to generate sound by using vibrations. This is apparently a patent​ed technology from Sony called Acoustic Surface, it saves space making the TV look slimmer.

Images from Stuff:
sony_bravia_a1_oled_4.jpg


sony_bravia_a1_oled_3.jpg
Click to expand...
 
B

BudokaiMR2

Member
ggx2ac said:
For example, Sony have come back to OLED TVs and are releasing on June 10 the Bravia A1 (A1E for US) which is an OLED TV (OLED panels supplied by LG Display, Sony no longer manufacture them in-house) with no conventional speakers. It uses the OLED screen itself to generate sound by using vibrations. This is apparently a patent​ed technology from Sony called Acoustic Surface, it saves space making the TV look slimmer.
Click to expand...


Wut. That sounds insane. Is it doing stereo sound I suppose or...?
 
G

ggx2ac

Member
BudokaiMR2 said:
Wut. That sounds insane. Is it doing stereo sound I suppose or...?
Click to expand...

Here's one site that did a review:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/sony-bravia-a1e

Sound quality

We really didn’t think the 55A1’s crazy plan of using its screen as its speakers could work. But it does. In fact, the 55A1’s sound humbles that of most rivals rather than feeling like a design-based compromise.

Particularly striking is how open, warm and large in scale the 55A1’s sound is. Audio spreads far beyond the confines of the TV’s body work, filling even quite large rooms and enhancing your immersion in what you’re watching. Detail levels are surprisingly high too, and the way the system can marry the position of these sound details to the position of their source in the image is uncanny.

The 55A1 even does a decent job of tackling flat speakers’ traditional problems with bass by building a smooth-sounding subwoofer into the TV’s lean-to stand.

The only problem is that extremely dense, bass-heavy action scenes can cause a little muffling and even occasional crackling issues. Fortunately, though, these breakdowns really don’t happen often.

Sound TL;DR: The A1’s unique speaker design delivers open, warm, detailed sound. And yes, it manages to deliver it without making the picture wobble!
Click to expand...
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
BudokaiMR2 said:
Wut. That sounds insane. Is it doing stereo sound I suppose or...?
Click to expand...
Why is it insane? That's literally what a speaker is. Idea is really old only reason you didn't see it with LCD is that the vibrations affected the visual quality due to the multi-layer nature of the panel.

It's a pretty great sound solution btw. Because the sound is emitted by the display you get basically perfect imaging and sound placement.
 
//DEVIL//

//DEVIL//

Member
I fucking hate OLED. I will never buy one ever. LCD all the way. I can't handle the fucking blotches on a black screen. It just kills me along with screen burns.
 
M

MTC100

Banned
wapplew said:
Yes, chance for Plasma come back!
Click to expand...

OLED is the better technology though. -not to mention power efficiency.

//DEVIL// said:
I fucking hate OLED. I will never buy one ever. LCD all the way. I can't handle the fucking blotches on a black screen. It just kills me along with screen burns.
Click to expand...

I don't understand. I have a Galaxy Note III(4th year now) still and the oled screen is perfectly fine, it's not as bright as the new versions but it's amazing to look at the incredibly high contrast as black is black even in the dark.

As much as I love my Sony Bravia for its low input lag, the clouding is apparent, especially in a dark room and the black isn't as dark as it could be with OLED.
 
C

Cru Jones

Member
JershJopstin said:
Is there a possibility of Japan Display folding during the Switch's lifetime? That'd be... interesting.
Click to expand...

Possible yes, interesting? About as interesting as sending specs over to another display manufacturer and having them create the exact same thing. There isn't anything proprietary to the screen Japan Display is creating for the Switch...
 
W

wrowa

Member
//DEVIL// said:
I fucking hate OLED. I will never buy one ever. LCD all the way. I can't handle the fucking blotches on a black screen. It just kills me along with screen burns.
Click to expand...

Is that still a problem? I don't think I've ever used an OLED device (regularly) outside of the Vita, so I wouldn't know whether new OLED screens still suffer from it. As someone who mostly played Vita games at night, the "glorious OLED" was definitely a bit ruined by these disgusting blotches.
 
P

pswii60

Member
wapplew said:
Yes, chance for Plasma come back!
Click to expand...

Nope!

I was the biggest fan of plasma when I finally jumped in to the Panny plasma fold in 2010, after many years of LCDs. But my C6 OLED shits all over my old plasmas in every way, they look so washed out and blurry now in comparison.

The house also doesn't turn in to an oven every summer either, even if I do have to turn the heating up a little more in the winter. The electricity bills also reduced after moving to OLED from plasma.
 
G

ggx2ac

Member
Cru Jones said:
Possible yes, interesting? About as interesting as sending specs over to another display manufacturer and having them create the exact same thing. There isn't anything proprietary to the screen Japan Display is creating for the Switch...
Click to expand...

That's a good point, imagine for the Nintendo 3DS if Sharp folded since I think the 3D screen tech was theirs. But now Sharp have been acquired by Foxconn so there isn't really a problem there even though the newest 3DS revision is a 2DS revision. lol
 
M

MTC100

Banned
wrowa said:
Is that still a problem? I don't think I've ever used an OLED device (regularly) outside of the Vita, so I wouldn't know whether new OLED screens still suffer from it. As someone who mostly played Vita games at night, the "glorious OLED" was definitely a bit ruined by these disgusting blotches.
Click to expand...

My PS Vita had that issue(I first thought it was defective) but that system also had one of the first OLEDs in it. My Galaxy Note III's screen looks perfect and its a 4 year old device...
 
Tal Shiar Agent

Tal Shiar Agent

Member
wrowa said:
Is that still a problem? I don't think I've ever used an OLED device (regularly) outside of the Vita, so I wouldn't know whether new OLED screens still suffer from it. As someone who mostly played Vita games at night, the "glorious OLED" was definitely a bit ruined by these disgusting blotches.
Click to expand...
Only the launch window OLEDs suffer from this. Later ones, like the white model, have it fixed.
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
JershJopstin said:
Is there a possibility of Japan Display folding during the Switch's lifetime? That'd be... interesting.
Click to expand...

Any company thats been around as lokg as nintendo will have developed contingency plans and business continuity plans around these kind of things related to a major supplier..

Especilly with this news being out there. They probbaly will get as good a deal as possible out of japan display as they can while shopping around to other suppliers.
 
J

javac

Member
I've had oled phones all the way back to the original Galaxy S1 and every single one of my phones has had the top notification bar burn in, garbage.
 
M

MTC100

Banned
javac said:
I've had oled phones all the way back to the original Galaxy S1 and every single one of my phones has had the top notification bar burn in, garbage.
Click to expand...

I just checked with a white background, my note III has no burned in bar(or anything else) and I've used it for years now.

It's true that oled can burn in but I don't see that happening with TVs unless you use them as a monitor on your PC.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
javac said:
I've had oled phones all the way back to the original Galaxy S1 and every single one of my phones has had the top notification bar burn in, garbage.
Click to expand...

Exactly, OLED still has the issue of burn-in. Same happened to my phone.
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
MTC100 said:
OLED is the better technology though. -not to mention power efficiency.
Click to expand...
Power efficiency is poor on OLED especially when showing scenes with high average brightness. It is why LG has to opt for solutions like ABL and the RGBW subpixel arrangement though that does come with the disadvantage in that it yields an incorrect whitepoint which in turn means they need CMS to correct it that drops brightness further.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I'm sure there are no more screen suppliers out there. :p

I'm sure this won't result in some future GAF thread about how to obtain the superior Switch screen from X manufacturer. :p
 
C

CaviarMeths

Member
Jesus, not one single shred of good news. That CEO must have been massacred at the shareholders meeting.

Wonder what it means for the Switch if the company goes under in a couple of years. Probably just finding a new partner? Can't see them switching to OLED displays for current gen.

Edit: That sound solution shit on Sony's new OLED TVs sounds cool as hell. Be keeping my eye on that.
 
S

Seik

Banned
//DEVIL// said:
I fucking hate OLED. I will never buy one ever. LCD all the way. I can't handle the fucking blotches on a black screen. It just kills me along with screen burns.
Click to expand...

The only OLED screen on which I had that was the Vita, I have a LG B6 and never had this problem, I assume it's fixed now?
 
O

Otakumegane

Member
Sounds to me one of those typical scenarios where a Japanese Company owned by an aging leadership cannot look ahead and adapt to future changes and as a result has to play the catchup game while blundering all the way down.

What matters to us is what happens to the Switch if this company goes under. Likely nothing.
 
G

ggx2ac

Member
Otakumegane said:
Sounds to me one of those typical scenarios where a Japanese Company owned by an aging leadership cannot look ahead and adapt to future changes and as a result has to play the catchup game while blundering all the way down.

What matters to us is what happens to the Switch if this company goes under. Likely nothing.
Click to expand...

The weird thing is Japan Display Inc. has only been around for 5 years and have already had 3 years of losses.
 
C

CaviarMeths

Member
ggx2ac said:
The weird thing is Japan Display Inc. has only been around for 5 years and have already had 3 years of losses.
Click to expand...

Why did Nintendo even partner with these dudes in the first place then? Surely they would have seen them as an unstable company. They must have been cheap as hell.
 
J

JershJopstin

Banned
Cru Jones said:
Possible yes, interesting? About as interesting as sending specs over to another display manufacturer and having them create the exact same thing. There isn't anything proprietary to the screen Japan Display is creating for the Switch...
Click to expand...

7DollarHagane said:
Any company thats been around as lokg as nintendo will have developed contingency plans and business continuity plans around these kind of things related to a major supplier..

Especilly with this news being out there. They probbaly will get as good a deal as possible out of japan display as they can while shopping around to other suppliers.
Click to expand...
I suppose. I wonder how noticable a new screen supplier would be, though. The 3DS didn't really set a good precedent for consistency.
 
F

Filter

Member
OLED can't get bright enough to reach the HDR recommended peak brightness of 1000 or 4000 nits right? Let alone the aspirational 10,000 nits.

There are other display technologies that will probably take over not too far away.
 
//DEVIL//

//DEVIL//

Member
MTC100 said:
OLED is the better technology though. -not to mention power efficiency.



I don't understand. I have a Galaxy Note III(4th year now) still and the oled screen is perfectly fine, it's not as bright as the new versions but it's amazing to look at the incredibly high contrast as black is black even in the dark.

As much as I love my Sony Bravia for its low input lag, the clouding is apparent, especially in a dark room and the black isn't as dark as it could be with OLED.
Click to expand...

wrowa said:
Is that still a problem? I don't think I've ever used an OLED device (regularly) outside of the Vita, so I wouldn't know whether new OLED screens still suffer from it. As someone who mostly played Vita games at night, the "glorious OLED" was definitely a bit ruined by these disgusting blotches.
Click to expand...

Seik said:
The only OLED screen on which I had that was the Vita, I have a LG B6 and never had this problem, I assume it's fixed now?
Click to expand...


As far as I know all OLED has it. It's just a matter how lucky you are to have it less noticeable than other screens. It's not an exclusive thing for the Vita .

Also. Uneven white balance ( pinkish or blueish one one side and not the others)

Hell even the new Samsung S8 has it.

Worst technology ever .

LCD technology has advanced so much better than OLED and now you can see very vibrant colors on LCD screen that much the OLED. See HTC 10 for example or xiaomi mi5s/6/Mix
 
G

ggx2ac

Member
CaviarMeths said:
Why did Nintendo even partner with these dudes in the first place then? Surely they would have seen them as an unstable company. They must have been cheap as hell.
Click to expand...

As mentioned by others, I don't think it's a really big deal if they go under. There's plenty of other LCD panel manufacturers they can use. They could just go back to SHARP who were in trouble too remember? They manufactured the 3DS screen and could have went under but are now owned by Foxconn.

Japan Display Inc. probably won't go under yet seeing as they got bailed out last year and are having​ a change in leadership next month. They'll just have to survive without the convenience of supplying displays to Apple since they missed that opportunity.
 
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