Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh Hyun promised that the company will be delivering foldable phones by 2015 during the company’s Analyst Day, according to reports by Engadget and GottaBeMobile. com. The Engadget report noted Galaxy Round was an “incremental nudge” towards this development, and the flexible phone concept can be further expanded into wearable electronic gadgets that the company has high interest in.

North American lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania is upgrading its portfolio of Sylvania Ultra LED lamps, providing higher efficacy, competitively priced LED lamps and downlight retrofit kits for commercial applications. These long life, energy-efficient alternatives to traditional lighting sources such as incandescent, halogen and compact fluorescent lamps now have a variety of enhancements, including efficiency increases of 10 to 15 percent compared to previous versions resulting in more light with less energy usage, improved design and dimming capabilities.

Two prominent lines from Littman Brands, Hudson Valley Lighting®, manufacturer of contemporary and traditional lighting fixtures for more than 30 years, and Corbett Lighting, manufacturer of decorative lighting, are pleased to announce their participation in the renovation of The Ronald McDonald House in Long Island, New York (RMH-LI), a respite for seriously ill children undergoing treatment at area hospitals, as well as their families.

Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia announced recently , it had received the court verdict from the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court pertaining to the decision by the State Intellectual Property Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that Nichia’s two YAG patents (ZL97196762.8, ZL03159595.2) were valid.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar has released their 3Q13 financial results, feeling the effects of  LED for TV backlight applications inventory adjustments.

With the continual low price trend of  in the LED market, manufacturers are beginning to consider options for lowering productions costs. LED package free products have become the focal point of the industry in 2013 with many manufacturers actively breaking into R&D and production.

The company also announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire material. GT will own and operate ASF® furnaces and related equipment to produce the material at an Apple facility in Arizona where GT expects to employ over 700 people. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of approximately $578 million. GT will reimburse Apple for the prepayment over five years, starting in 2015.

A new report from IHS breaks down iPad Air's components to reveal that the new product costs are actually much lower, and the company might be getting a much fatter profit. However, costs for iPad Air display has actually gone up, despite a cutback on LEDs for backlight. The lighter weight requirement has raised subsystem prices. IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler told AllthingsD reporter, that the new iPad Air has used optical film to help distribute light better and cut down product weight.

Quantum Electro Opto Systems (QEOS) announced today that it is entering the LED lighting and LED lighting systems business. QEOS had previously commercialized its Tilted Charge Dynamics™ (TCD) device technology to produce the world’s fastest LED, which also featured lower cost, smaller size, and importantly, extremely low total power usage; thus providing a highly “Green Energy” product for the communications industry.  The company is now leveraging its R&D capability in materials and device design, optical lens technology and packaging, to bring forth new “Smart+” LED Lighting Systems, combining eco-friendly green technology with digitally-driven and Internet-enabled smart lighting.

Intematix Corporation, a leading manufacturer of phosphor solutions and Philips Lumileds, a leading LED supplier, today announced a remote phosphor-based LED lighting module with 203 lumens per watt efficacy. It is believed that this module represents the highest level of efficacy among LED-based light sources commercially available for production in the market today.

The lighting market trend will continue its gradaul growth. LED lighting penetration rates are expected to further increase as LED prices overall falling and consumer recognition is on the rise. Backlight market orders have slid as uncertainties still surround China’s new home appliance subsidiary policy. Some LED manufacturers revenues have decreased and there has been a rebound in the backlight market compared to last month. With the Chinese Lunar New Year approaching, manufacturers’ conventional holiday stockup demands will provide a certain degree of support for LED manufacturers’ sales performance. Overall, the LED market will continue its upward climb in November.

San’an has recently released their 3Q13 financial report. The first three quarters of the year saw a revenue of RMB 2.63 billion (US $431 million), a YoY growth of 11.86 percent. Gross profit margin was RMB 761 million, a YoY growth of 14.07 percent. Net profit attributable to company stockholders after deduction of non-recurring profits or loss was RMB 645 million, a substantial YoY growth of 59.95 percent. Earning per share (EPS) was RMB 0.53. Single quarter revenue for 3Q dropped to RMB 957 million, YoY dip of 2.48 percent. 

Flickering façades, curved monitors, flashing clothing, fluorescent wallpaper, flexible solar cells – and all printable. This is no make-believe vision of the future; it will soon be possible using a new printing process for organic light-emitting diodes.

The light manufacturer Osram is equipping the Sistine Chapel in Rome with a new type of LED solution. After 500 years, the art-historically outstanding works can now be viewed to a level of precision unique until now, and the especially art-conserving installation enables significantly higher illuminance values. In addition, 60% less power is consumed compared to the existing lighting installation.

The 2013 Emerging Markets Campaign of Taiwan’s Green Trade Project Office has landed in Jakarta, Indonesia with a delegation of Taiwanese LED lighting manufacturers ready to showcase the latest innovations at the Indo LED & Lighting Expo scheduled to be held on November 6-9. A ‘Taiwan Innovative LED Lighting Product Pavilion’ is set up for the fair in the Jakarta International Expo Center (Hall A2, Booth AK 010) to present a variety of LED lighting solutions offered by Taiwanese companies.

Texas Instruments introduced the industry's first floating switch architecture that simplifies the offline linear drive of LEDs in lamps, downlights and fixtures. The AC switched matrix technique features TI's TPS92411 floating MOSFET switch and is an innovative approach to producing low-ripple LED drive current without magnetic components. The architecture provides excellent compatibility with legacy wall dimmers and delivers high power factor and low total harmonic distortion (THD). For more information, samples and evaluation modules, visit www.ti.com/tps92411-pr.

Panasonic, a provider of hospitality technology solutions, announced that three models from its new line of hospitality HDTVs - 32” TH-32LRU60, 39” TH-39LRU60 and 42” TH-42LRU60 - were distinguished as the Most Efficient ENERGY STAR qualified products in 2013. Products that are recognized in this way prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting rigorous energy efficiency performance levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

USHIO America’s Solid State Lighting Group, a leader in the specialty and general lighting marketplaces, today announced the launch of its compact, high output Midori™ ULB35i LED fiber-optic illuminator manufactured by USHIO America Inc.

Dual-LED Flash is hoped to become a trend in smartphone application. Taiwan LED manufacturer Genesis Photonics and Everlight have both recently announced their entry into the Japanese smartphone supply chain.

Taiwanese LED packager Ledtech has been focused on low temperature lighting market for the past few years, having received steady orders from large North American clients such as Ingersoll-Rand, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi-Cola. The company has also been actively developing their South American and European professional refrigerator manufacturer clientele. The company has received orders from one South American client by the end of 2013. The company hopes to add one more client from South American and Europe each before the end of the year.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a new report, SSL Pricing and Efficacy Trend Analysis for Utility Program Planning. The report was created in response to requests from utilities and energy efficiency organizations for information to help them forecast the order in which important SSL applications will become cost-effective and estimate when each “tipping point” will be reached. It includes performance trend analysis from DOE's LED Lighting Facts® and CALiPER programs, plus cost analysis from various sources.

For one writer the answer is yes. Switching to LEDs can mean the demise of nuclear power plants in the U.S., according to Michael Kanellos, a contributor for Forbes. Kanellos reasoned nuclear power plants only generate 19 percent of electricity in the U.S. equivalent to the power consumption percentage by lighting. In other words, by simply retrofitting light bulbs with LED, the need for nuclear plants is wiped off the table

Panasonic Corp. announced as an effort to restructure its business it will no longer be manufacturing plasma display panels (PDP) by Dec. 2013. Business operations in three Amagasaki factories will be eventually terminated. Amagasaki P3 Factory has already stopped production, while Amagasaki P5 factory has already suspended operations. The Amgasaki P4, which is still operating will be closed down by end of March 2014.

Universal Display Corporation announced that the Japanese IP High Court delivered a decision reversing the Japanese Patent Office’s (JPO) prior invalidation of the broad claims in the Company’s Japanese Patent No. JP-4511024 (the JP ‘024 patent). The matter was remanded back to the JPO for further consideration consistent with the IP High Court’s ruling.

This fall 2013, GE Lighting released a groundbreaking LED light bulb as part of the GE reveal brand, engineered to have the same familiar size and shape of an incandescent bulb but deliver big energy and cost savings.

Silica will be showcasing the latest innovative lighting solutions at LuxLive 2013 in London. Technical and market experts will be available on booth D12 to discuss advances in lighting technology and applications.

A couple of interesting LED technologies on the editorial radar this week. A UK team has now managed to increase Li-fi transmission speed to 10 Gbps, can this be the next big trend for industry non-lighting applications? We can only wait and see. Breakthroughs in quantum dot technology and phosphor have also taken place this week manufacturers just might be able to benefit and implement better cost control from these newer technologies. For more info, please see list below:

The LED industry’s development has been anything but a smooth ride. Foreign manufacturers have monopolized the technology market in China. The industry in China also faces challenges of being overtly small, incomplete supply chains, and oversupply in the midstream and downstream markets. Despite being the “star” of the era, the industry is facing a bottleneck. How can companies cope pragmatically during an industry low tide? How should social awareness change to create a better environment for industry development? How can the Chinese government speed up industry standardization and corresponding development policies?

Soraa Chief Technology Officer Mike Krames recently ressponded to LED Magazine article's claims that the company's GanN-on-GaN MR16 emits large quantities of UV rays. Below is Krames blog entry on the company website:

By determining simple guidelines, researchers at UC Santa Barbara's Solid State Lighting & Energy Center (SSLEC) have made it possible to optimize phosphors –– a key component in white LED lighting –– allowing for brighter, more efficient lights.