MicroVision is transferring component production to the tech customer with which it signed a $15 million contract in April 2017 to develop a laser-beam-scanning display system (see 1904180001), it said Tuesday. The new arrangement allows MicroVision “to enjoy the upside if the customer’s product experiences much higher volumes in the future, while allowing for a lower cost structure and reducing our expected working capital requirements in 2020,” said the company. MicroVision described the customer as a global technology leader planning to use the display to develop a consumer augmented reality product. MicroVision stock has battled Nasdaq delistings for low prices. Shares closed 1.4% lower at 17 cents.

The global market for LCD TV panels will decline 10% this year in units and 3% in area, reported Omdia Tuesday. “Area shipments are set for their first-ever annual decline in 2020 as suppliers reduce production and reorganize their manufacturing operations to pursue higher-value applications outside of the LCD-TV panel market.”

EMagin started a new “development project” in December with a tier-one company for a “next-generation display” in a consumer augmented- and virtual-reality headset, said CEO Andrew Sculley on a Q4 call Tuesday. It’s the type of display “that doesn't exist today,” he said. EMagin specializes in direct-patterning AMOLED technology that “gives a display with the pixel size of our microdisplays a very bright capability, and that's why the consumer companies come to us,” he said. “I don’t want to give any more information than I should.” The client is a "very secretive" company, he said.

Coherent, which supplies laser-cutting equipment and services to the display industry, assumes it will take a $25 million revenue hit from the coronavirus outbreak in fiscal Q2 ending in March, said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Palatnik on a fiscal Q1 call Wednesday. “The Chinese government's actions, particularly from quarantining individuals in and around major hubs such as Wuhan and restricting the opening of businesses, will likely have an impact on our ability to sell our products and service our installed base in impacted areas.” Until workers return to their jobs from the government-extended Lunar New Year holiday, “we won't be able to fully assess what the quarter is going to look like,” said CEO John Ambroseo. Coherent’s laser-cutting service orders increased by about $3 million sequentially from fiscal Q4, reflecting higher demand for OLED smartphone displays in the holiday quarter, said Ambroseo. There was also a “small contribution” from foldable smartphone displays as the industry prepared for “the 2020 ramp,” he said. But the penetration rate for foldable smartphones “is likely to remain low for two to three years as manufacturers and suppliers lock down the specs and material sets,” he said.

Sales of front-projector installation solutions (with lumens ratings above 6000) grew 7 percent in volume, 4 percent in value last year, said Futuresource (see 2002050053). It predicted that in five years, the projector market will have “sophisticated smart solutions” with high-resolution and lumens and integrated functionality such as edge-blending and mapping.

Samsung’s launch of a "large range" of “household” microLED TVs in 2019's second half will create “new momentum in the home entertainment market," said Samsung Display Vice President Kwonyoung Choi on a Q4 call Wednesday. Samsung at CES introduced microLED TVs for home theater in 75-, 88-, 93- and 110-inch sizes. Samsung isn’t ready to quote microLED TV pricing, but “we're currently thinking that it probably will be at a higher price range than what is currently the price range for premium TVs in the market,” Choi said. With microLED to be positioned as “the product that can provide the best viewing experience to consumers, we think that even at that price range, there will be sufficient demand,” he said. Samsung’s current focus in foldable smartphones is on launching a new model with a different “form factor” than the first-generation Galaxy Fold, said JongMin Lee, a vice president in Samsung's mobile business. Another emphasis with the new model will be on “further enhancing the level of completeness of the product in terms of the display, the design and also the UX,” he said of the user experience. Foldable has “opened a new category of a superpremium product that's differentiated from the existing smartphone offerings,” he said. “We believe that going forward, the foldable phone will become a main category in the overall mobile market.” It’s “difficult” to disclose “a specific volume or sales expectation” on foldable phones, he said. Samsung is “increasing our capacity for production of foldable products, and we hope to supply our foldable products to more customers this year,” he said.

Wuhan, China, ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak, is a fast-rising “hub” for display manufacturing, with LCD and OLED fabs “already in production and a few more starting production in 2020,” blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young Tuesday. Half the population of Wuhan left town for the Lunar New Year and can’t return until the travel ban lifts, affecting the fabs’ employee “headcount,” he said. “Thus, the coronavirus should result in a near term supply disruption” for panel makers BOE, China Star and Tianma, he said. “Since the display industry is still in a period of over-supply, this supply disruption could help further stabilize and increase prices.”

Global smartwatch display shipments rose 34 percent year on year in Q3, with full-year totals expected to come in at 195 million units, said IHS Markit Thursday. BOE led with 28 percent share, followed by LG Display at 15 percent and Truly at 12 percent; most displays went to Huawei and Xiaomi, said the researcher.

Rising concern about LCD panel availability from Korean suppliers is forcing TV brands to revise sourcing strategies and shift to Chinese suppliers, said IHS Markit Tuesday. Korean LCD TV panel makers are undergoing fab restructuring and shutdowns this year, sending TV brands to China for their display needs, said analyst Deborah Yang. The global top-three TV brands are expected to bump their 2020 purchasing from Chinese suppliers by 35 percent year on year to 62.6 million displays. A competition between BOE Technology and China Star Optoelectronics Technology is intensifying, particularly with panel supplies from Gen 10.5 fabs, said Yang. Supply availability is improving at emerging Chinese panel makers such as HKC, Nanjing CEC-Panda LCD Technology and Xianyang Caihong Optoelectronics Technology, said the analyst, which will help global TV brands Samsung, LG and several Chinese firms. Though panel supply still exceeds demand, top-tier TV brands are signing long-term supply agreements with captive and selective external panel suppliers to ensure they get the highest priority business, said the analyst.

Vizio rolled out its first OLED model as part of its 2020 TV launch before CES Sunday, while reasserting itself as “America’s fastest growing Quantum Dot company." It’s also launching its largest TV to date, the 85-inch P-Series Quantum X, which leads the company’s flagship line that includes 75- and 65-inch models. All LED models have new voice remote technology, full-array local dimming, up to 792 local dimming zones and up to 3,000 nits brightness. All 2020 intros are 4K models. Vizio is keeping quantum dot LED as its flagship technology, slotting the 55- and 65-inch OLED models into a section of the portfolio that’s “built for the cinephile,” it said. The OLEDs’ self-emitting pixels offer “true blacks, infinite contrast and unmatched viewing angles,” in a borderless 4mm thick display, said the company. Vizio’s Elevate sound bar, a 5.1.4-channel unit, is designed to pair with the OLED TVs and includes Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio, with rotating front height speakers. New Vizio IQ processors power all 2020 models and incorporate multistep algorithms said to more accurately upscale HD and Full HD content to 4K resolution, reduce noise and artifacts, and enhance detail and contrast. Vizio is pushing a gaming engine it said will take Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 gaming up a level with support for variable refresh rates, AMD FreeSync and resolutions up to 4K at 120 Hz for better motion clarity and smooth play. All LED models feature HDMI 2.1 and Dolby Vision, HDR 10 Plus, HDR10 and hybrid log gamma high dynamic range. Pricing and availability will be given closer to launch. On why Vizio isn't showing an 8K TV for 2020, a spokesperson told us the company "focuses on the technologies that matter most to consumers rather than bloating its products with unnecessary features that drive up cost." While 8K is "an exciting technology that will further enhance pixel detail, content isn’t available, and brightness limitations make it difficult to match the performance of a 4K UHD TV," he said. Vizio will continue to evaluate 8K "as with all technologies" for inclusion in future product lines, he said. The response was similar to our question on ATSC 3.0, which Vizio isn't announcing support for now.