Samsung SDI to back away from PMOLED, focus efforts on AMOLED

Unbeknownst to most, there are actually quite a few flavors of OLED out there. We've got passive-matrix (PM), active-matrix (AM) and transparent, and evidently Samsung SDI isn't really feeling the former anymore. Reportedly, the outfit will begin to phase out of the PMOLED business, and it will begin looking for ways to alter its existing PMOLED production line for "other uses." The plug is being pulled (at least partially) as decreasing panel prices and a small bucket of buyers have reduced profitability, leaving it little option but to readjust its focus on the more promising AMOLED. The move isn't entirely surprising -- after all, LG Display suspended its entire PMOLED business last year, and while there is a slight possibility that the firm keeps a small bit of PMOLED production going, it'll be minor (if there's any at all). Our take? We're stoked. It's the AMOLEDs that'll end up in that mythical 40 inch (and beyond) OLED HDTV, so we're all about giving more attention to that baby's commercialization date.