OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 50

LG did not officially state the price or release day of its top-of-the-line OLEDW7 Wallpaper Signature OLED TV, but BestBuy already lists the 65" model for $7,999. You can pre-order it now, although it's not clear when the TVs will actually ship.

LG's OLEDW7 TV (which comes in either 65" or 77") is extremely thin (2.57 mm all the way) and attaches to the wall using magnets. A thin cable on the bottom connects to the sound bar. Other features include a 4K resolution, HDR support (to four different standards), WebOS 3.5 and Dolby Atmos sound.

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) released a new free white paper (sponsored by Nanosys, a quantum-dot producer) in which it analyses the premium TV market and compares the future of OLED TV to that of QD-LCD TVs.

According to DSCC, the total TV market will grow from 261 million units in 2016 to 282 million in 2021 - a slow CAGR of 1.6". The OLED TV market will grow at a rapid rate of 50% - from 0.9 million panels in 2016 to 6.8 million in 2021. Even at this fast growth rate, OLEDs will represent only 2.4% of the total TV market in 2021. The main constraints towards faster OLED TV growth, according to DSCC, will be production capacity and not demand.

LG Electronics officially unveiled its 2017 OLED TV lineup, with no real surprises. At the top of the line, LG launched its OLEDW7 Wallpaper Signature OLED TV with a thin (2.57 mm) panel that attaches magnetically to the wall. The W7 comes in either 65" or 77".

In addition to the wallpaper TV, LGE also launched new models of its existing four OLED TV series, the OLEDB7, OLEDC7, OLEDE7 and OLEDG7 signature TV. All of these new TVs feature updated HDR support (for four different standards), WebOS 3.5 and Dolby Atmos sound. Interestingly, the C7 is no longer curved - so LG actually will have no curved OLED TV to offer in 2017.

As expected, Sony finally launched its first OLED TV (well, except the 2008 11" XEL-1). The XBR-A1E Bravia OLED TV features a flat 4K OLED panel. The TVs are based on the Android TV platform and feature HDR (both HDR10 and Dolby Vision HDR) and a built-in speaker which is part of the stand behind the TV to create a stand-less form factor. Sony will offer the TVs at 55", 65" or 77" and the TVs will ship later in 2017.

The OLED panel themselves are produced by LG Display. According to reports, LGD agreed to supply Sony with 100,000 panels each year.

LG is demonstrating a new technology which they call Crystal Sound OLED - which is an OLED panel that contains an embedded sound system. LG says that this technology is only possible with an OLED panel as it does not require backlights.

LG Display demonstrated a 65" Crystal Sound OLED - and the company says that it provides a better immersive viewing experience as the sound comes directly from the characters on the screen and not from an off-center sound speaker. LGD says it will unveil 55" and 65" 4K Crystal Sound OLED TVs in the future.

In December 2016 we posted that Forbes speculates that Sony may announce an OLED TV lineup at CES 2017 - and this was confirmed by LG Display and the OLED Association a few days later.

Sony 56-inch OLED TV Prototype, 2014

Korean news site ETNews now updates that the supply contract between LGD and Sony was officially signed. LGD will begin to supply OLED TV panels to Sony in Q2 2017, and has agreed to supply Sony with about 100,000 TVs each year.

OLEDNet posted an article detailing the OLED technologies LG Display will showcase at CES 2017 in two days. LGD's most innovative displays will be a rollable 77" OLED TV panel and a double-sided UHD 77" display. LGD was also supposed to showcase a rollable OLED TV in CES 2016 - hopefully this time the company will actually show such a display in public.

In addition to those 77" displays, LGD will also showcase a 55" transparent FHD OLED. LGD demonstrated a similar display at CES 2016, but hopefully this new display will be closer to commercialization and maybe LGD will indeed detail such plans at CES. OLEDNet says that the new transparent display will feature improved colors and more natural image quality.

Yesterday we posted about LG's upcoming Wallpaper OLEDW7 TV launch at CES 2017, and today it turns out that LG Electronics is also launching a similar wallpaper TV for its commercial OLED signage range.

LG's model number for its Wallpaper Signage OLED TV is 55EJ5C-B (at least in the UK). This TV uses a 55" FHD panel (which is quite disappointing - I would have expected a 4K one!). LG already lists the TV in its UK and HK sites and also published the installation video above. MidWich.com also lists the price of this panel - £5,599 (almost $7,000 USD).

LG Electronics published the following teaser - calling our attention to its upcoming 2017 OLED TV range:

This is a clear reference to LG's Wallpaper OLED TVs. These TVs will be extremely thin, and the panel itself sticks to the wall using magnets. In May 2015 LG Display demonstrated a prototype - 0.97 mm thick 55" OLED panel that sticks to the wall using magnets. The entire 55" OLED panel weighs only 1.9 Kg.

Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) released its new OLED supply, demand and equipment quarterly report, and the company supplied some interesting forecasts from that report.

DSCC sees OLED capacity rising from 7.5 million m2 in 2016 to 40.4 million m2 in 2021 - a CAGR of 52%. In terms of shipments, DSCC sees 389 million panels shipped in 2016, growing to 1.34 billion in 2021. Most of the capacity investment in the near future will be for flexible displays - and so flexible mobile OLED capacity will overtake rigid capacity in early 2018.