LG just cracked one of the final flaws in OLED tech

A blue phosphorescent breakthrough.

Tech giant LG claims to have cracked something that the display industry at large has been trying to solve for years — an efficient blue phosphorescent "dream" OLED.

Yes, that's a bit of tech jargon that I had to look up too, but it turns out it's a pretty big deal — and should result in brighter screens, longer-lasting displays, and improved battery life for portable devices.

OLED screens — be those found in smartphones, handhelds like the Steam Deck OLED, or big TVs — all create colour using red, green, and blue light. However, the blue light has apparently always been something of an issue. The blue part of the trio is said to be more power-hungry than the red or green, and wears out quicker.

Now, thanks to this 'world-first' breakthrough from LG, the longstanding problem appears to have been solved (at a commercially viable level):

"LG Display has solved this issue by using a hybrid two-stack Tandem OLED structure, with blue fluorescence in the lower stack and blue phosphorescence in the upper stack. By combining the stability of fluorescence with the lower power consumption of phosphorescence, it consumes about 15% less power while maintaining a similar level of stability to existing OLED panels."

The company plans to show off this new tech later this month, in a range of panel sizes.

Soo-Young Yoon, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display, said this was "the final piece of the ‘dream OLED’ puzzle".