Expect Tablets, PCs and TVs To Adopt AMOLED Technology This Year

According to NPD DisplaySearch’s latest research, AMOLED (that’s active matrix organic light emitting diode for the layman) display screens, already put to good use by a bevy of smart phones, would be ideal for tablets and TVs.

The displays offer high contrast ratios, quick response times, and wide viewing angles. Such technology also allows devices to be thin, flexible, even transparent.

The downside? AMOLED technology doesn’t scale up very well from smartphone to flatscreen. The latest improvements regarding this technology are addressing that very problem, but don’t expect it to come cheap: production costs are running high.

Said Jennifer Colegrove, VP of emerging display technologies for NPD DisplaySearch:

“OLED displays operate through direct emission, as opposed to transmissive LCD or reflective displays, which enables area lighting, […] The technology has made good progress and is ready to enter large-size applications, but low cost manufacturing for large sizes is still a challenge.”

December 2011 saw the release of Samsung’s 7.7-inch Galaxy Tab tablet that uses a Super AMOLED Plus display. LG is expected to release a 55-inch OLED TV sometimes in 2012. NPD DisplaySearch expects other tablet and laptop vendors to start adopting the AMOLED technology in the coming year once the wrinkles are smoothed out of the large display and cost-effective manufacturing becomes a reality.

However, AMOLED technology already fetches a pretty penny: revenue from OLED displays surpassed $4 billion in 2011, accounting for 4% of all flat-panel display sales. Once more companies adopt the technology, NPD DisplaySearch predicts $20 billion in revenue by 2018, 16% of the entire display industry.

So what do you think? Excited to buy an AMOLED TV in s few years?