Organic Light-Emitting Diode, or OLED, was created about four decades ago at Kodak. The idea behind the OLED technology was to produce more efficient, flexible, and thinner displays than traditional liquid-crystal displays (LCDs).
These devices use an organic light-emitting layer, which is sandwiched between two conductors. The thin layer is made of a carbon-based semiconductor, rather than silicon or indium, which are the standard materials in LEDs.
Each pixel in an OLED display screen comprises a red, green, and blue diode, emitting their light when a voltage is applied, meaning they are self-emissive.
Each of the pixels here can be controlled individually, enabling OLEDs to eliminate the need for a backlight, in turn improving contrast, image quality, and energy efficiency.
Other advantages of an OLED display over an LCD include higher brightness, a wider color range, a fuller viewing angle, ultra-thin and foldable displays, lower power consumption, and better durability. However, they also face challenges such as being expensive and having a limited lifetime.
Still, the OLED market is currently witnessing a robust expansion, with over a billion OLED panels being produced every year.
The OLED market is actually projected to grow to 72.8 billion by 2026. This growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of the technology across various product types, including smartphones, television screens, smart wearables, handheld game consoles, automotive, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and large format displays.
OLEDs are actually a relatively new display technology and are being developed at an impressive rate. Some of the promising innovations in this field include rollable and stretchable displays, transparent displays, and wearables like skin patches.
This is just the beginning, though; the latest advancements are now improving the durability of blue OLEDs and creating sound OLEDs with multi-speaker functionality.
So, while not a flashy investment, we rely on and use screens everywhere. Thus, we’ll now take a deeper dive into these two advancements and how they aim to change the display industry.
OLED Displays with Built-In Speakers: The Next Frontier
Over the last many decades, display technologies have evolved significantly with a focus on resolution, color accuracy, and high dynamic range. But now, there is a need to shift this focus from image quality to other factors in order to provide users with a more immersive and realistic experience.
Why Multisensory OLED Displays Matter
With the maturation of visual technologies, there is now a growing interest in integrating multisensory inputs. Sight and hearing, after all, are the dominant human senses.
Displays are no longer just passive panels with images; they are now evolving into immersive interfaces that engage multiple human senses. Combining visuals with sound and touch is becoming essential for enhancing user engagement and realism.
Sound is of critical importance here, with research indicating that audiovisual synchronization accounts for almost 90% of perceived immersion. So, it’s a no-brainer that companies and studies are working on the sound aspect of displays.
Most current displays, however, still need external soundbars or multichannel speakers, and this creates some obvious design challenges.
In display devices like smartphones and TVs, speaker integration conflicts with the slim form factor. A spatial inconsistency between the perceived source of sound and the location of the speaker, meanwhile, reduces immersion. In automotive, the compact interiors of the vehicles make this integration very difficult.
In order to advance multisensory display experiences, these challenges need to be addressed first.
How Piezoelectric Speakers Power Sound-Emitting OLEDs
To make displays multisensory, researchers have been exploring integrating sound generation directly into OLED displays. However, these technologies, such as electrostatic speakers and thermoacoustic speakers, while highlighting the potential for display-integrated speakers, present challenges in terms of efficiency, performance, and practicality.
Commercially, LG Display’s Crystal Sound OLED (CSO) and Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio have integrated speakers into the display, but they use sizable hardware and face challenges in accurate sound localization.
The problem with conventional exciters, devices that generate sound through vibration, is that they are big and bulky and not at all ideal for modern ultra-thin and flexible displays. Sound crosstalk between multiple speakers also leads to a lack of precise control over localized audio.
So, while demonstrating the viability of panel speakers, these commercialized products also highlight the structural restrictions of electromagnetic speakers. This creates a need for solutions that work better with the new trends in display tech.
This is where piezoelectric speakers come into the picture. These speakers convert electrical energy directly into mechanical motion through the inverse piezoelectric effect. This enables efficient sound generation with a flexible, lightweight, and low-power design.
Piezoelectric speakers have a simple layered construction involving just electrodes and piezoelectric materials, as such offering the benefits of inexpensiveness, compactness, and high-energy efficiency.
Various piezoelectric technologies are currently undergoing development, although most focus on a single element or the exciter alone, rather than addressing multi-element configurations. This is despite the fact that speakers often require several exciters arranged in arrays to enhance their performance and achieve realistic stereo effects.
So, the latest study from POSTECH researchers focused on two key elements of piezoelectric speakers, which involve attaining crosstalk-free diaphragm vibrations and improving uniformity of frequency responses.
Pixel-Based Local Sound OLEDs: A Display Speaker Breakthrough
Researchers from the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) have built the first-ever Pixel-Based Local Sound OLED technology.
What this breakthrough has done is allow every pixel in the OLED display to release different sounds at the same time. This allows the display to function as a multichannel speaker array.
Led by Su Seok Choi, a Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering at POSTECH, the research team has successfully shown their novel technology on a 13-inch OLED panel, the same as those used in regular laptops and tablets.
Published in the journal Advanced Science1, the study was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy under the Electronic Components Technology Innovation Program.
According to the study, the team embedded ultra-thin piezoelectric exciters, arranged much like pixels, within the OLED display frame. These piezo exciters convert electrical signals into sound vibrations without taking up external space. More importantly, they are fully compatible with OLED panels’ thin form factor.
Each of these pixels can act as an independent sound source, enabling Pixel-Based Local Sound technology.
Localized Sound in OLEDs for High-Precision Audio
In order to eliminate sound crosstalk completely, which is to ensure that multiple sounds coming from different regions of the display do not affect each other, the researchers developed a method that allows for truly localized sound experiences.
They introduced a vibration-isolating frame structure here and optimized it for shape, dimensions, and material properties. The frames confined surface vibrations to appointed areas, preventing transmission to neighboring regions and improving frequency response uniformity.
The team also found that increasing the height and width of the frame and using materials with different acoustic impedances reduced Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and enhanced frequency response consistency.
This technology has been successfully implemented on the 13-inch OLED panel, delivering high-quality audio directly from the screen without the need for external speakers, while maintaining the OLED’s thin and lightweight design. The implementation proves the technology’s practical scalability as well as commercial viability.
According to Professor Su Seok Choi:
“Displays are evolving beyond visual output devices into comprehensive interfaces that engage both sight and sound. This technology has the potential to become a core feature of next-generation devices, enabling sleek, lightweight designs in smartphones, laptops, and automotive displays—while delivering immersive, high-fidelity audio.”
When it comes to the use cases, the method showcases the potential for dashboard-integrated OLED speakers and multi-zone in-car sound systems, allowing for different capabilities such as navigation instructions and listening to music from the same screen. In smartphones or VR, spatial sound can adapt to the user’s hand or head movements to significantly enhance realism and immersion.
Overall, the study “provides valuable insights for future developments in thin, flexible, display-integrated audio systems, offering new possibilities in immersive, multisensory user experiences.”
Breakthroughs in Blue OLED Efficiency and Lifespan
Researchers from the University of Michigan, meanwhile, have opened the way for more energy-efficient OLED screens as they demonstrate blue phosphorescent OLEDs lasting as long as the green PHOLEDs.
Why Blue PHOLEDs Struggle – And How They’re Being Fixed
Blue PHOLEDs are highly efficient, but they haven’t yet gained wider commercial usage in displays and lighting due to their short operational lifetimes.
This is because of the high density of energetic triplet excitons that accumulate in the emission layer and eventually annihilate, leading to molecular degradation.
But the latest study, with support from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Universal Display Corporation (OLED -1.2%), has found the solution that “moves the blues into the domain of green lifetimes.”
According to the corresponding study author, Stephen Forrest, who is Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering:
“I can’t say the problem is completely solved—of course, it’s not solved until it enters your display—but I think we’ve shown the path to a real solution that has been evading the community for two decades.”
Boosting OLED Energy Efficiency with Faster Conversion
When it comes to OLEDs, not all of them are the same, especially when it comes to how much energy they use and how long they last.
Currently, red and green OLEDs make use of the efficient phosphorescent approach, while blue OLEDs make use of fluorescence. What this means is that, theoretically, red and green OLEDs have a maximum of one photon for every electron that runs through the device. In contrast, blue OLEDs maximize at a much lower efficiency.
The problem is that out of red, blue, and green (RGB) light, blue has the highest photon energy. Thus, in blue PHOLEDs, the molecules need to manage higher energies than the red and green PHOLEDs. While most of the energy is left in the form of blue light, when it gets trapped, it can break down the color-producing molecules.
The team previously found a way to get this trapped energy out faster. This included using a coating on the negative electrode to help the energy convert into blue light, effectively creating a fast lane.
“On a road that doesn’t have enough lanes, impatient drivers can crash into one another, cutting off all traffic—just like two excitons bumping into one another create a lot of hot energy that destroys the molecule. The plasmon exciton-polariton is our optical design for an exciton fast lane.”
– First author Haonan Zhao, a recent Ph.D. graduate in physics.
Click here to learn how PHOLED technology is set to power next-gen displays.
How the Purcell Effect Improves OLED Performance
The specifics of the situation here are based on quantum mechanics, i.e., the behavior of light at the atomic and molecular scale.
When an electron, a particle with a negative electric charge, goes through the negative electrode, an excited state is created in one of the molecules, which produces blue light.
This state is a negatively charged electron jumping into a higher energy level, and the positively charged ‘hole’ left behind by the electron, and together they make an exciton.
Normally, the electron would go back to its original state and fire off a blue photon. But when using the phosphorescent route, excitons tend to stick around.
Excitons close to the electrode generate photons faster due to the shiny surface supporting quantum quasiparticles called surface plasmons (SPs), which are like small waves in electrons on a metal’s surface.
When the exciton in light-emitting material is fairly close to the electrode, it gets help in converting to blue light as it can dump its energy into the surface plasmon, which is called the Purcell effect. This effect is simply the enhancement of a quantum system’s spontaneous emission rate by its environment.
But not all surface plasmons produce photons, so the exciton’s oscillation, creating waves in the electrons in the electrode, isn’t automatically helpful. In order to get the photon, the exciton needs to connect to the SP, creating a plasmon exciton polariton.
Creating Blue OLEDs as Efficient as Green: New Research
To encourage the effect, the team took a thin layer of a carbon-based semiconductor and added it to the shiny electrode that promotes energy transfer. Their approach also extends the effect deeper into the material, allowing excitons away from the electrode to benefit as well.
The team has been utilizing this effect with other routes to create a blue PHOLED that can not only shine as bright as the green PHOLED but also last just as long.
Published in Nature Photonics, the study2 reported a deep blue tandem PHOLED with a long operational lifetime using the polariton-enhanced Purcell (PEP) effect at the anode as well as the cathode. The technology has been licensed to Universal Display Corp.
The design here involves a tandem OLED, which has two light-emitting layers to reduce the light-emitting burden of each layer and bring down the odds of two excitons merging. By adding a layer that helps excitons resonate with SPs near both electrodes, the team gives both emitting layers access to the fast lane.
The entire system is an optical cavity, also called an optical resonator, where blue light resonates between the electrodes, pushing the photons’ color deeper into the blue range. The study stated:
“To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a deep blue PHOLED that shows stability comparable to green PHOLEDs, accelerating the use of the deep blue phosphorescent emitters in power-efficient displays and lighting.”
Investing in OLED Displays
Now, it’s time to take a look at the leading OLED display player and its investment potential. Universal Display Corporation is a prominent name in the field, which is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of OLED technologies and materials for use in display and solid-state lighting applications.
The company supplies OLED materials and holds critical patents, including on phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) technology. Its key customers include Samsung, LG Display, Panasonic, Pioneer, AU Optronics, CMEL (China Mobile Electronics), and others.
Universal Display Corp. (OLED -1.2%)
When it comes to the market performance of Universal Display Corp., the $7 billion market cap OLED’s shares are currently trading at $146.95, up 0.51% YTD. While the share prices are still down 44% from their 2021 high, they have been making a nice recovery.
With that, its EPS (TTM) is 4.81, the P/E (TTM) is 30.55, and ROE (TTM) is 14.58%. The dividend yield offered by the company is 1.22%. Recently, the company announced a second-quarter cash dividend of $0.45 per share, which reflects the “expected continued cash flow generation and commitment to return capital to its shareholders.”
Universal Display Corporation (OLED -1.2%)
On May 1, the company’s Board of Directors also announced the approval of a new share repurchase program, authorizing the purchase of up to $100 million of its common stock.
Around this time, Universal Display Corporation also reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. As per the results, the company recorded a total revenue of $166.3 million, a mere 0.6% increase from the same quarter in the previous year.
Revenue from material sales in Q1 2025 came in at $86.2 million, down from $93.3 million in 1Q24, due to lower unit material volume for its emitter materials, which was partially offset by changes in customer mix. The cost of material sales, meanwhile, recorded a slight increase to $33.9 million.
Revenue from royalties and license fees during this period saw a 7.75% increase to $73.6 million.
“We began 2025 on a solid financial note and continue to remain confident in the long-term growth trajectory of the OLED market.”
– Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Millard
Universal Display Corporation’s total gross margin for Q1 2025 was 77%, down 1% from the first quarter of 2024, while operating income was $69.7 million and net income was $64.4 million or $1.35 per diluted share.
For its 2025 revenue guidance, the company affirmed it to be between $640 million and $700 million despite “the evolving macroeconomic environment” creating greater uncertainty. Acknowledging the increasing complexity of the global landscape, CFO Millard said they remain committed to the long-term strategy of advancing their leadership in the OLED space through continuous invention and delivery of state-of-the-art technologies and materials in this environment.
“With a powerful innovation engine, strong balance sheet, resilient supply chain, and operational agility, we are well-positioned to adapt to change, respond swiftly, and continue supporting our customers and partners.”
– Millard
Latest Universal Display (OLED) Stock News and Developments
Final Thoughts: The Future of OLED Innovation
OLED displays are fast becoming an integral part of our lives, gaining adoption across smartphones, laptops, automobiles, wearables, ARs, VRs, and much more. However, they aren’t just visual tools anymore; rather, researchers are working to transform them into multisensory interfaces.
The recent innovations in OLED, pixel-level sound, and efficient deep-blue PHOLEDs promise a new era of OLED technology that will provide us with thinner, more immersive, and more energy-efficient devices across all display applications!
Studies Referenced:
1. Hong, S., Park, J., Kim, Y., Ryu, J., Kim, T., & Lee, J.‐Y. (2025). Localized sound‐integrated display speaker using crosstalk‐free piezoelectric vibration. Advanced Science, 12(13), 2307101. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202307101
2. Zhao, H., Arneson, C.E. & Forrest, S.R. Stable, deep blue tandem phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode enabled by the double-sided polariton-enhanced Purcell effect. Nat. Photon. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01679-0