OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 30

In early 2019 LG Electronics announced the world's first rollable OLED TV, the 65" Signature OLED TV R and the 88" 8K Z9 OLED TV. Today LGE announced that it plans to start shipping both TVs in the second half of 2019, in Korea. LG did not disclose the price of these two high-end TVs.

The rollable and 88" OLED TVs will be highly expensive - these are high-end premium products. LG Electronics did however say that as it shipped over 4 million OLED TVs since the first one shipped in March 2013, OLED TVs are now "crossing the chasm" and are starting to be adopted by the mainstream market and not only early adopters.

LG's 2019 OLED W9 Wallpaper TV is now shipping and costs $6,999 for the 65" model and $12,999 for the 77" model. The W9 TVs are based on LG's 2nd-gen Alpha 9 intelligent processor which enables LG's ThinQ AI to offer new display algorithms and Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant.

The OLED W9 also features HDMI 2.1 which enables high frame rate (HFR) support, enhanced audio return channel (eARC), variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). LG's flagship OLED also feature Dolby Atmos for immersive entertainment.

In February 2019 it was reported that Samsung Display will hold an investment review committee on April 2019 to decide whether to go ahead with plans to start producing QD-OLED TV panels - and then commence mass production by the end of 2020.

According to a new report from China, Samsung will indeed go ahead with its QD-OLED production plans, but at a slower pace than was first estimated. Samsung will only begin trial production towards the end of 2020, with real mass production on a new 10-Gen line only at around 2023.

Many viewers complained that the latest Game of Thrones episode was very dark - too dark infact to see what was happening during the Battle of Winterfell. The episode's Cinematographer says that the scene was dark intentionally, to make it extra intense, claustrophobic and disorienting. However he also blames the compression, and the display settings and viewing environment of most users.

Viewing the episode on an OLED TVs however makes for a good viewing experience with its high contrast and HDR settings. According to reports from the US, this has increased the interest in OLED TVs. Popular Mechanics, for example, ran an article titled "Games of Thrones Proves Why You Need an OLED TV" and Consumer Reports and CNET both recommended an OLED TV over an LCD for the specific episode.

HiSense launched its Series X OLED TVs in Australia towards the end of 2018, with an initial price tag of $3,500 AUD for the 55" model. According to a new report from Australia, HiSense's OLED TV sales were lower than expected, to the point that HiSense lowered the price to $1,495 to clear its stock.

According to ChannelNews.au HiSense is likely losing money on each TV sold. According to reviews, Hisense's OLED TVs are not as impressive as OLED TVs from LG and Sony, and consumers are preferring to buy LG's OLED TVs as Hisense is not perceived as a premium brand.

LG Display reported disappointing financial results for Q1 2019 - with an operating loss of $113 million. LG Display warns that the whole of 2019 will fall short of expectations - due to high costs of its new OLED fabs, weak LCD panel prices and low adoption of its smartphone OLEDs.

LGD's smartphone OLED business still suffers from low yields and low fab utilization as the company finds it hard to secure design wins and compete with Samsung Display. Some reports even suggest that LGD is thinking about shutting down its flexible OLED smartphone business.

Sony officially announced the pricing and availability of its 2019 OLED TV range. Sony's flagship TV, the A9G, will start shipping in May 2019. The 55" will cost $3,399, while the 65" model will cost $4,499. Amazon already lists the new TVs. The 77" model, which will cost $7,999 will start shipping in June.

The A9G offers "consumer reference-quality image" and features Sony's X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster and an automated calibration mode (including a dedicated mode for Netflix). The A9G features Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio - which means that the TV stand doubles as a high end speaker. The TV is based on the Android TV OS.

OLED driver maker MagnaChip launched its latest 28 nm OLED Display Driver IC for smartphone displays. MagnaChip says that it is using the world's most advanced process for OLED drivers, which enables it to achieve a 20% reduction in form factor compared to its previous 40 nm process.

In addition to the size reduction, the new process also enabled MagnaChip to reduce the voltage from 1.1V to 1V, which reduces the power consumption by more than 20%, and it also reduces the EMI levels (again, by 20%) which improves the phone's call quality.

In February 2019, at the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) tradeshow, LG Electronics launched its 55" transparent touch-enabled OLED displays. The displays are not available commercially yet, but LG seems to be advancing and we now know the first such display model number - the 55EW5F.

We still do not have the specification of LG's first transparent OLED signage, but the company latest prototype shown at CES 2019 featured a transparency of 40% - so we can assume that these new commercial displays feature the same transparency. It is also likely that they are touch enabled (that's what been shown in previous trade shows).

LG started to ship its 2019 mid-range OLED TVs, the OLEDE9 series. The 65" model is now available for $4,299 while the 55" model costs $3,299.

LG's OLEDE9 offer a picture-on-glass design and are based on LG's 2nd-gen Alpha 9 intelligent processor which enables LG's ThinQ AI to offer new display algorithms and Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. The OLEDE9 also features HDMI 2.1 which enables high frame rate (HFR) support, enhanced audio return channel (eARC), variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM). LG's flagship OLED also feature Dolby Atmos for immersive entertainment.