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There's new and better technology out there, but passwords just won't go away.

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 is imminent, set to arrive following a period of scheduled downtime on May 2, 2025, at 2am ET / / 11pm PT (May 1) / 7am BST.

It'll be a Star Wars-focused affair called Galactic Battle, bringing a whole new Battle Pass to work through, and new map locations to visit. In the build-up to launch, I'll be covering things live, providing up-to-date details on scheduled downtime, the highlights set to arrive next season, and my initial impressions of things once it's all gone live.

Fortnite Galactic Battle - Key Info

Start date and time
Map changes
Battle Pass Skins
Update Schedule
Jump to Live Coverage

Epic Games has been busy teasing the next season of Fortnite over the last week or so, and we now know that it's entirely centered around Star Wars. So far, there's been a teaser trailer showing off some of the upcoming Battle Pass skins, a look at how the map is set to change as part of Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, as well as the announcement of an in-game event that'll air shortly after the new season launches.

If early signs are anything to go on, the upcoming Star Wars updates to Fortnite could be a real high point for Chapter 6 so far. Hopefully, we'll get to fly some X-Wings, battle Samurai variants of iconic Star Wars villains, and even get to see Darth Jar-Jar in action.

Personally, I've found this Chapter a little bit lacking, so I'm excited to see how Epic Games delivers on the most involved Star Wars season yet. I'll be dropping in on launch day, checking out the new Battle Pass skins and testing the new weapon loot pool, seeing if the changes are good enough to keep Fortnite in TechRadar's best free games list.

Join me as I keep you up to date with the launch of Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, including live coverage of the scheduled downtime, and my live impressions once I drop into my first few matches. As new info on the latest season drops, this page will be updated. Here's what you need to know about Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, now that we're on the eve of launch day..

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 - cut to the chase

Only have time for the basics? Here are the most important things to know about Fortnite Galactic Battle:

• Start time: May 2 at 2am ET / 11pm PT (May 1) / 7am GMT
• New skins: Darth Sidious, Rebel Evie, Poe Dameron, General Grievous, Chewbacca mask
• New map locations: Vader Samurai's Solitude, Resistance Base, Outpost Enclave, First Order Base
• Events: Tales of the Underworld episode screening, Live event finale

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 start date

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 will start on May 2 at 2am ET / 11pm PT (May 1) / 7am BST. Well, sort of. This is when downtime will start, so it'll likely be a few hours before we're all able to jump back in.

Once we know more about how long downtime is set to last, we'll be able to make a prediction as to when the new season is going live. For now, assume downtime to be at least two or three hours, as has been the case for the last couple of seasons.

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 map changes

(Image credit: Epic Games)

As you can see from the image above, there are four new major POIs (points of interest) set to be added alongside the new Fortnite Season. The first is Outpost Enclave, which is a rebel base looking similar in structure to Tatooine.

Then there's the First Order Base, which is set to be populated by Stormtroopers. Then, there's Vader Samurai's Solitude, which hints at a potential Vader mini-boss. Finally, the Resistance Base is set amongst the forest, and features the Millennium Falcon.

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 Battle Pass skins

(Image credit: Epic Games)

There are five main skins on offer as part of the Fortnite Galactic Battle Pass. These include a new Emperor skin, General Grievous, Poe Dameron, a Resistance Fighter-variant of Evie, and a Wookie Team Leader outfit.

It's likely that we'll see alternate colors for these skins, included in the Battle Pass. What's unclear at present is what the Bonus Skin will be. I'm betting on Darth Jar-Jar, who has been shown off in the trailers so far.

(Image credit: Epic Games) Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 schedule

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Epic Games has revealed that Fortnite Galactic Battle will receive weekly updates that add new weapons, and other content into the game. Here's the full schedule:

• Imperial Takeover – May 2, 2025
• Tales of the Underworld (watch first two episodes in Fortnite) - May 2, 2025
• The Pull of the Force – May 8, 2025
• Mandalorian Rising – May 22, 2025
• Star Destroyer Bombardment – May 29, 2025
• Death Star Sabotage – June 7, 2025

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 live coverage And we're live!

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Hello and welcome to my live coverage of the Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 launch. We’re now on the eve of release day, and there’s still plenty we don’t know about the imminent Star Wars-centric season. First off, let’s cover what we do know.

When does the current season end?

(Image credit: Epic Games)

The current season of Fortnite is set to end tomorrow (May 2) at 2AM ET / 7AM BST, and 11 PM for PT (May 1). At this point, the game will move offline for scheduled downtime. At present, there’s no info on how long downtime will be, but it's worth noting that last season's switch over took five hours. Hopefully it'll be a little shorter this time.

So, Fortnite Galactic Battle?

✔️ Star Wars Themed Battle Pass ✔️ Weekly Gameplay Content ✔️ Culminating in a Live End of Season Narrative Event ➡️ Fortnite Galactic Battle arrives May 2, 2025 pic.twitter.com/JmRStRA2UmApril 20, 2025

Fortnite Galactic Battle is the next season of Fortnite, and it's entirely themed around Star Wars. From the looks of things, this will be a shorter season, with weekly narrative updates that culminate in a live finale.

The new Battle Pass skins have been shown off

(Image credit: Epic Games)

So far, Epic Games has shown off five confirmed Battle Pass skins for Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3. Poe Dameron, Wookie Team Leader, Resistance Evie, Emperor Palpatine, and General Grievous will all be up for grabs. As in previous seasons, I'm betting on there being variants for each too, perhaps a Clone Wars-style for Grievous? One can hope.

Grab a free Star Wars skin before the new Season begins

(Image credit: Epic Games)

You can now connect your Epic and MyDisney accounts to earn a First Order Stormtrooper outfit to use in Fortnite. Follow these steps to do so:

• Sign into your Epic account. (You can do this from epicgames.com/id/login.)
• On your Account page, go to Apps and Accounts. (If you’re already signed in, go straight to Apps and Accounts!)
• Click “Connect” on the MyDisney Account option. You’ll be directed to the MyDisney website to continue the process. Not able to connect? Find more information on eligibility.
• Runs until August 31, 2025

That's no moon

(Image credit: Epic Games)

If you drop into Fortnite now, as I just did, you'll spot a new addition to the skyline. The Death Star can be seen in the distance, signaling the arrival of the Empire and First Order.

Mace Windu finally joins Fortnite

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Despite Fortnite having featured Mace's lightsaber before as a mythic weapon, the character has never actually been added as a skin. He'll be available in the store at some point during Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3, hopefully alongside his purple lightsaber as a harvesting tool (we'll see).

What about Darth Jar-Jar?

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Finally, Darth Jar Jar is officially canon, well... in terms of Fortnite canon, I suppose. He's seemingly not included in the Battle Pass, so I'm betting he'll be the bonus skin for this season. We'll have to wait and see.

There's still time

(Image credit: Epic Games)

With less than a day left of Fortnite Lawless, you might want to make the most of the remaining hours and collect any Battle Pass skins you've yet to redeem. Tier 100 features Mortal Kombat's Sub-Zero, though honestly, I'm happy with having just earned Big Dill.

Grab The Vaultbrella

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Speaking of making the most of Season 2 while it's still live, you can still pick up The Vaultbrella by getting a Victory Royale. Easier said than done, but worth giving a go while you wait for the Star Wars events to kick off.

Catch the first two episodes of Tales of the Underworld early

(Image credit: Disney)

Be among the first to view the first two episodes of the new Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld animated series, exclusive to the Star Wars Watch Party island in Fortnite for the first 48 hours before it hits Disney+! The island goes live on May 2 at 10AM ET / 3PM BST / 7AM PT.

There's set to be five weekly updates to enjoy

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3 will run through until early June, making it a condensed season when compared to the last two. Each week, there's going to be an update that'll kick off new narrative elements, and shift the focus of the season. Here's the update schedule:

• Imperial Takeover – May 2, 2025
• The Pull of the Force – May 8, 2025
• Mandalorian Rising – May 22, 2025
• Star Destroyer Bombardment – May 29, 2025
• Death Star Sabotage – June 7, 2025

Signing off for a short break

(Image credit: Epic Games)

I'll be taking a short break now, but I'll be back at 12PM ET / 5PM BST / 9AM PT to resume my live coverage of Fortnite Galactic Battle. There's still plenty to dive into, including the new map changes which tease the return of Vader Samurai.

After Andor, ditch that Disney Plus.

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• Microsoft and Du join forces on data center to fuel next-gen AI power
• AI adoption demands scale, and Microsoft and Du’s $544 million project meets the challenge head-on
• The new hyperscale data center will be built in phases, serving Microsoft’s cloud expansion

With AI adoption growing rapidly, hyperscale data centers are becoming essential to support the workloads of advanced AI tools, including those powering leading AI writing platforms.

At the recent Dubai AI Week, Microsoft and UAE-based telecom provider Du announced plans to build a $544.54 million hyperscale data center in the UAE.

“This marks a significant investment in digital infrastructure, reinforcing Dubai's leadership in adopting the latest technologies, innovations, and digital services,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defense, in a LinkedIn post celebrating the announcement.

Strengthening UAE AI infrastructure

The new data center will be a core component of Microsoft's ongoing effort to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in the Middle East. It follows earlier collaborations, including a partnership with the Abu Dhabi government and Core42 to offer AI services and sovereign cloud capabilities within the UAE.

Du CEO Fahad Al Hassawi noted the investment is, “a pivotal leap in our strategic goal to revolutionize the digital ecosystem of the UAE.”

The center’s capacity will be delivered to Microsoft in phases, although specific timelines and technical details have not yet been disclosed.

Du currently operates five data centers across the UAE, and earlier in 2025 signed a deal to extend the Peace subsea cable to the country.

Microsoft has steadily expanded its cloud presence in the Middle East since launching its UAE cloud region in 2019. The company has since announced similar regions in Qatar, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, with additional plans for a new cloud region in Kuwait.

The new UAE-based hyperscale data center will help meet growing demand for low-latency access to cloud platforms that power everything from top web hosting services to next-generation enterprise applications.

Via DataCenterDynamics

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• A Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge teaser image includes the date May 13, suggesting that's when the phone will launch
• That's in line with previous leaks, so is likely accurate
• We've also heard full rumored camera specs for the phone, and while the main sensor could impress, the ultra-wide is a disappointment

We’ve heard from multiple sources that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge will launch on May 13, and now we’ve seen our clearest sign yet that this date is probably correct.

Evan Blass – a leaker with a superb track record – has posted an image on X that appears to show the side of a phone, along with the text “Beyond slim”. It looks very much like an official teaser image for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and the image also includes the date May 13.

So, while we’d still take this with a pinch of salt, given that it comes from a reputable source, looks like it could well be an official image, and matches a date that’s already been tipped multiple times, we’re fairly confident that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge will indeed launch on May 13.

FYI pic.twitter.com/Y9frwPeIvmApril 30, 2025

A 200MP main and a 12MP ultra-wide

That’s not the only new Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge news though, as SammyGuru (via GSMArena) has also shared details of the phone’s cameras.

The site claims to have found these details on a regulatory database, and the highlight is the apparent presence of a 200-megapixel main camera. However, that spec isn’t at all surprising, as this is something else that has previously been tipped a number of times.

What we were less clear on is the remaining lenses, which according to SammyGuru include the same 12MP ultra-wide camera as you’ll find on the standard Samsung Galaxy S25, and the same 12MP selfie camera as every other Galaxy S25 model.

It’s no surprise that Samsung would stick with the same selfie camera, but it’s slightly disappointing that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge apparently won’t get the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 50MP ultra-wide camera.

And of course, with only two rear lenses here there’s no dedicated telephoto camera, though it’s likely the 200MP main sensor will be capable of optical quality 2x zoom, since the 200MP camera on the Galaxy S25 Ultra can achieve that.

In any case, SammyGuru isn’t a big name in leaks, so there’s a chance some of this is incorrect. But with so many other sources pointing to a 200MP main camera, and with all three current S25 models sporting the same 12MP selfie camera, we’d expect that much is accurate, so it’s only really the ultra-wide spec that has much chance of being wrong.

Assuming the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge really does launch on May 13 we’ll know for sure in under two weeks.

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It's not uncommon to bounce around streamers depending on what you are in the mood to watch every month. Subscription hopping has also proven to significantly help out when it comes to lessening the financial burden of maintaining access to all the best streaming services.

Because, even though we might want to keep everything going, with the costs of each steamer undergoing regular revision – Plex, Netflix, Fubo TV and Discovery+ have all announced price hikes so far this year – now's a great time to re-evaluate. Not sure where to start? That's what I'm here for!

This month, I'm going out on a limb and dropping one of my favorite streamers in favor of the granddaddy service, Netflix. There's a slew of cracking TV shows and movies arriving on Netflix in May 2025, and here's a few I'm gosh darn giddy for!

Here's why I'm keeping my Netflix subscription

Alright, first up on May 1st we have a brand-new Netflix miniseries called The Four Seasons from creators Tina Fey (30 Rock), Lang Fisher (Never Have I Ever), and Tracey Wigfield (The Mindy Project). The show is based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie and is poised to follow six friends who plan a fun weekend getaway together, only to learn that one of the couples is on the verge of splitting up.

Fey stars alongside Will Forte, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Erika Henningsen, Marco Calvani, and Kerri Kenney-Silver. To be fair, I love Fey's brand of humor and her previous onscreen chemistry with Forte, so this is a no-brainer watch for me.

Another short-run show is on the horizon for later in May. Sirens limited series is dubbed a 'dark comedy' and unravels over the course of a weekend at an affluent seaside estate.

Meghann Fahy (hot off The White Lotus and this year's Drop) plays Devon who decides to step in and help out her sister Simone (House of the Dragon's Milly Alcock) whose relationship with her boss is getting out of hand. While she means well, her younger sister insists that her employer, wealthy socialite Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore) won't take this interception well at all.

Honestly, I need know nothing else. This sounds like it's following this new trend of 'rich white women going off the rails' dramedies such as Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, The White Lotus, et al.

Arguably one of Netflix's biggest fan draws is the Nick Kroll-led animated series Big Mouth, which returns for its eighth and final season on May 23.

While I'm excited to revisit Josh Ruben's romantic slasher Heart Eyes on May 8, my heart really belongs to the prom queen. I'm talkin' the long-awaited follow-up to 2021's nostalgia slasher trilogy based on the Fear Street novels. Yep, Fear Street: Prom Queen arrives on May 23 and I'm ready, especially after seeing the trailer for this school-themed horror.

Like the previous entries in the franchise, the film takes place at Shadyside High during their prom season as hordes of popular girls desperate to earn the title of prom queen start to mysteriously disappear.

The movie takes inspiration from the novel of the same name by R.L. Stine, which is a classic piece of YA, and stars stalwart genre actors, Lili Taylor and Katherine Waterston. I loved the original trilogy, mostly because it never shied away from getting a bit gory and getting a tad scary. Bring it on!

On the library front – the streamer is adding a raft of critically acclaimed movies to the docket for May, including five that snagged more than 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. One of those is last year's The Wild Robot that proved popular with both children and adults (well, everyone bawled watching it, if that counts?) so be sure to add that to your watchlist.

For recognizable warm and fuzzies – or as I call them, the 'rebingeables' cause they're in constant rotation– there's Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven trilogy and the Twilight franchise. What? They're fun. Check out everything new on Netflix in May in the US for even more reasons why you'll want to sign up.

Here's why I'm canceling Paramount+

Yellowjackets season 3 has ended on Paramount+. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)

Last month, I mentioned that I was dropping Paramount+ because of one reason and one reason only: those girls stuck out in the wilderness! Well, now that one of the best Paramount+ shows is all done for the year– yep. Yellowjackets season 3 dropped its finale – it's time to drop this streamer for May.

Also, no sign of a season four renewal for Yellowjackets? Wild.

Really, there's not a whole heck of a lot new that I'm excited about – but, as I mentioned last month – sometimes personal preference plays a factor. For me, I like a mix of new titles and a bunch of fun older catalog shows and movies to keep me going. While there's a few of the latter, there's nothing really on the former. My gut on these matters sways toward newer titles hitting streaming and there isn’t anything pressing that’s must-see TV this month.

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AI agents are everywhere today and are reshaping how social engineering works. These autonomous systems now independently launch coordinated phishing campaigns across multiple channels simultaneously, operating with an efficiency human attackers cannot match. They work continuously, make fewer mistakes, and require no supervision to effectively target organizations.

And they are effective. AI-generated phishing emails achieve a 54% click-through rate compared to just 12% for their human-crafted counterparts. What makes these attacks so effective? Unlike batch-and-blast approaches, AI agents build detailed psychological profiles from vast datasets, crafting messages that speak directly to individual fears, habits and vulnerabilities.

More troubling is their adaptive intelligence. These systems learn from each interaction, adjusting tactics based on your responses in real-time across email, text, voice calls and social platforms simultaneously. A hesitant reply becomes valuable feedback that sharpens the next approach.

Security teams find themselves outpaced as conventional defenses crumble against threats that evolve by the minute. The production scale is equally concerning: thousands of personalized phishing attempts generated in seconds, each one refined by previous successes and failures.

Leading organizations are responding with their own AI-powered defensive systems that detect subtle patterns human analysts might miss. This arms race has also accelerated interest in fundamentally different authentication approaches and cybersecurity awareness programs that address these new psychological vectors.

The question isn't whether your organization will face these advanced attacks, but whether you'll recognize them when they arrive.

But What The Heck Are AI Agents Anyway?

Between marketing hype and technical jargon, understanding what constitutes an "AI agent" has become unnecessarily complicated. At its core, an AI agent is simply software that can act independently toward specific goals without constant human guidance.

Unlike traditional automation tools that follow rigid instructions, agents perceive their environment, make decisions based on what they observe, and adapt their approach as circumstances change. The most sophisticated agents can plan multi-step sequences, learn from mistakes, and improve strategies over time.

These capabilities come in different forms. Basic reactive agents respond to triggers without memory or context. More advanced proactive agents initiate actions to accomplish specific objectives. Learning agents continuously refine their performance through feedback, while fully autonomous agents operate with minimal human oversight.

What separates modern AI agents from previous technologies is their ability to handle uncertainty and complexity. Using large language models and other AI tools, today's agents can understand natural language, recognize patterns across massive datasets, and navigate ambiguous situations with remarkably human-like reasoning.

This flexibility makes agents valuable for legitimate tasks like customer service, data analysis, and process automation. However, these same characteristics—autonomous operation, adaptability, and social intelligence—create perfect tools for sophisticated social engineering when repurposed for attacks.

Why AI Agents Excel at Social Engineering

The marriage of AI agents with social engineering creates uniquely effective attacks that traditional security measures struggle to counter. Their advantage comes from automating the most labor-intensive parts of social engineering while simultaneously improving the quality of each interaction.

Reconnaissance, traditionally the most time-consuming phase, happens automatically as agents collect and analyze digital breadcrumbs scattered across social media, company websites, and public records. These systems build comprehensive profiles of potential targets without human effort, identifying vulnerabilities in seconds rather than days.

The resulting attacks achieve unprecedented personalization. Rather than generic "Dear Customer" messages, AI agents craft communications that reference specific projects, colleagues, interests, or recent activities. This contextual awareness makes phishing attempts nearly indistinguishable from legitimate communications.

Perhaps most concerning is their ability to adapt in real-time. When a target hesitates or questions an initial approach, agents adjust their tactics immediately based on the response. This continuous refinement makes each interaction more convincing than the last, wearing down even skeptical targets through persistence and learning.

The economics also shift dramatically in the attacker's favor. AI-generated campaigns achieve higher success rates at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. A single operator can now orchestrate thousands of simultaneous, personalized attacks across email, voice, text, and social platforms—each one polished and grammatically perfect.

These capabilities create a democratizing effect in cybercrime. Advanced social engineering no longer requires elite skills or resources. The technical barriers have fallen, allowing even inexperienced attackers to execute sophisticated campaigns with minimal investment or expertise.

Most alarming is how these systems improve over time. Each successful or failed attempt becomes valuable training data that refines future attacks. AI agents effectively learn which approaches work best for specific demographics, industries, or individuals, making each campaign more effective than the last.

AI Agents Expand Your Attack Surface

The introduction of AI agents into business operations creates new entry points for attackers while also expanding the scope of what they can target. Each AI-powered system, tool, or service becomes another potential vector requiring protection and monitoring.

Security leaders need comprehensive exposure management strategies that account for these expanded attack surfaces. With over 80% of breaches involving external actors, organizations must prioritize defensive measures that address these new vulnerabilities:

Focus on external exposures. Continuously monitor internet-facing assets, especially AI endpoints and related infrastructure, where the majority of initial compromises occur.

Find everything: Conduct exhaustive discovery across all business units, subsidiaries, cloud services, and third-party integrations. AI systems often create complex dependency chains that introduce unexpected exposure points.

Test everything: Implement regular security testing on all exposed assets, not just "crown jewel" systems. Traditional approaches miss how seemingly low-priority systems can provide backdoor access when connected to AI infrastructure.

Prioritize based on risk: Evaluate threats based on business impact rather than technical severity alone. Consider data sensitivity, operational dependencies, and regulatory implications when allocating remediation resources.

Share broadly: Integrate findings into existing security operations through automation and clear communication channels. Ensure relevant stakeholders receive information that informs broader security operations and incident response processes.

AI agents are already accelerating social engineering attacks beyond what traditional defenses can handle. Security teams must implement robust exposure management now, while building AI-specific detection capabilities, or risk finding themselves outmatched by attacks they can't distinguish from legitimate communications.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• LG Display announced “commercialization level” performance of a blue phosphorescent OLED panel
• The new panel is a hybrid fluorescent/phosphorescent design that consumes about 15% less power than typical OLED displays
• The new tech will be demonstrated in a "small and medium-sized panel that can be applied to IT devices such as smartphones and tablets”

Korean manufacturer LG Display today announced it has successfully verified the “commercialization level” performance of blue phosphorescent OLED panels.

The announcement comes eight months after LG Display partnered with OLED technology company Universal Display Corporation on the development of blue phosphorescence, a necessary next step in creating a “Dream OLED” display.

According to LG Display’s release, the company was able to make the technology mass production-ready using a “hybrid two-stack Tandem OLED structure, with blue fluorescence in the lower stack and blue phosphorescence in the upper stack.” This approach differs from previous OLED display panels, which use a blue fluorescent layer paired with red and green phosphorescent layers.

(Image credit: LG Display)

The issue with using a fluorescent layer in OLED panels is that it provides only 25% light efficiency compared to a phosphorescent layer, which provides 100% light efficiency. LG Display’s hybrid approach changes things up in “combining the stability of fluorescence with the lower power consumption of phosphorescence.” By doing so, it “consumes about 15% less power while maintaining a similar level of stability to existing OLED panels,” according to the company.

LG plans to demonstrate its blue phosphorescent OLED panel with two-stack Tandem technology at SID Display Week, an event that gets underway on May 11, 2025 in San Jose, California.

Has the Dream OLED TV finally arrived?

While LG Display’s announcement is intriguing, the blue phosphorescent OLED panel it plans to display at SID Display Week will showcase the technology in “a small and medium-sized panel that can be applied to IT devices such as smartphones and tablets.”

That means the current iteration of the tech, while mass production-ready (LG Display says it has “completed commercialization verification with UDC”) remains in prototype form, and is not ready for introduction in larger displays such as the best OLED TVs.

We’ve been following the news on blue PHOLED, a term used for the phosphorescent layer in OLED displays, for some time, and previously reported on LG Display’s having "successfully developed an OLED panel based on blue phosphorescence."

Today’s news goes further in certifying that a similar OLED display panel is ready for prime time, but this version uses a hybrid approach that doesn’t yet meet the full light efficiency expectations of a “Dream OLED.”

Meanwhile, LG Display’s “four-stack” OLED display panel, a design that doesn’t rely on blue phosphorescent tech, hybrid or otherwise, but instead utilizes separate red, green, and blue elements to enhance color purity and boost brightness, can be found in the impressive new LG C5 OLED, one of the best TVs to arrive so far in 2025.

We expect this panel to remain the cutting edge for OLED TVs for some time to come, while the new hybrid two-stack Tandem OLED structure with blue phosphorescence gets developed for devices like phones and tablets.

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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 1.

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