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Samsung SDI Co., the world's top mobile display maker, expects prices of its next-generation flat screens to fall to the same level as liquid crystal displays by 2010, a senior executive said.

Chung was referring to a new display technology -- offering brighter screens and lower power use -- which Samsung SDI hopes to mass-produce from the third quarter of this year and, by 2009, to use in television sets.

At present, the price of an AM-OLED mobile display is roughly 60 percent higher than LCDs.

AM-OLED screens -- standing for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode -- are seen as a promising display technology because they produce brighter images, respond faster and consume less power.

Makers were hoping the new display would quickly replace LCD on high-end multimedia mobile phones and portable media players, but demand has remained sluggish so far as handset makers, locked in a price battle, have been reluctant to buy the more expensive product.

AM-OLED display makers also face serious technical challenges in their efforts to expand the lifespan of their products -- a key requirement for a technology that wants to move from mobile phones to televisions.

"Currently, our technology is about 20,000 hours. It should have at least 50,000 hours or more for TV application," Chung said. "Our target is by 2009 we will meet this requirement."

Despite the technical and financial obstacles the slim, lightweight and energy efficient displays are seen as a candidate to make an ideal mobile TV, analysts say.

Further ahead, Chung said, AM-OLEDs could be used on flexible or transparent supports such as fabric and glass.

"By 2010, AM-OLED will become cost-competitive," Chung Ho-kyoon, Samsung SDI's chief technology officer, said on Tuesday at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit

full interview (C) reuters