OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 60

In September 2015 Panasonic unveiled its first OLED TV, the 65" curved 4K TX-65CZ950. The TV uses LG's panel and features Panasonic's 4K Pro tech which includes advanced gradation controls and 3D color look tables, HDR and THX.

Panasonic said that this TV outperforms LG's 65" 4K OLEDs (even though the OLED panel is made by LGD and is the same one used in LG's own TVs), and it was expected to cost more than LG's OLED TVs. However, today Amazon.co.uk started offering this TV, with the price set at £2,800 - about $4,000. This seems too low, and it's possible that this is not actually a correct listing.

Following the Superbowl ad campaign, LG announced that its flagship 2016 OLED TV, the 65" Signature OLEDG6 is now available for pre-orders in select retail stores in the US. The G6 costs $7,999 and initial shipments are planned for late March. Amazon already lists the G6, but does not specify the shipment date.

LG's Signature OLED G6 is LG's top-end TV model for 2016. The G6 feature an ultra-slim on-glass design, a high-end pivoting Harman Kardon soundbar, LG's webOS 3.0, Color Prime PRO technology and HDR. The G6 models are available in 65 and 77 inches.

LG Electronics already announced that it will air the company's first Super Bowl ad that features LG's OLED TV. The ad is produced by Ridley Scott's production company, RSA Films - and is directed by Jake Scott and features Liam Neeson. LG pre-released the ad today:

Ridley Scott says that "It’s a dynamic short film - It’s about the race to be on the vanguard of innovation and to be able to create tomorrow’s technology". Liam Neeson's character, the "man from the future" is tasked with releasing the future of television to the world for the masses to enjoy today, much like LG has continued to do through its pioneering innovation in the OLED TV category.

When LG launched their 55EG9100 in 2015, the price of the 55" curved FHD OLED TV was set at $2,499. Shortly after LG dropped the price to $1,999. Today Adorama started offering this TV for $1,399 on eBay. This is a limited time offer, but still a great deal for a Full-HD 55" OLED!

The EG9100 is LG's entry-level 2015 OLED TV, and it features webOS 2.0, a dual-core CPU, magic remote and passive 3D (2 glasses included).

Earlier this week LG Electronics announced their financial results for Q4 2015, and the company stated it saw improved OLED TV sales in the quarter. During the company's English conference call, Hee Yeon Kim, LGD's Head of IR Division, said that LGD shipped around 400,000 OLED TV panels in 2015, out of which 50% were sold in Q4. In 2016 the company aims to ship 1 million panels - 40% of which will by 65% in size.

LGD also announced that it will invest $380 million to expand its OLED TV production capacity. LGD will convert an existing LCD production line to OLED production and the line will be completed by Q2 2017. LGD now stated that the new line will have a monthly capacity of 25,000 substrates.

Earlier this month we heard reports that Samsung Display is expected to make a final decision regarding a future OLED TV panel production facility investment. Today SDC confirms that it will proceed with projects for the development of large-sized OLED displays, although the company's focus remains on small-sized OLEDs.

According to Merck, Samsung will indeed return to the OLED TV market, and will do so by 2017. Samsung released their first OLED TV, the KN55S9C, back in June 2013. The TV was available worldwide for a short time for around $10,000, and then dropped to around $6,000 (and even lower) - but Samsung soon stopped production and never released another TV. In 2014 Samsung officials repeatedly said that Samsung will not resume OLED TV production until 2016 or 2017, which coincides with Merck's estimates.

Colnatec just told us that a large European customer is building an OLED deposition machine that is headed for China. The machine will adopt Colnatec's temperature-controlled Tempe system.

Colnatec would not reveal much, besides that the substrate size is "larger than anything currently on the market", and the customer ordered a "large number" of Tempe Systems. This is very interesting news, and hopefully we will know more in the future. If this is indeed the largest substrate-size OLED fab ever, it is bound to produce OLED TV panels, and it will be great to finally see competition for LG Display's OLEDs. Of course it may take a couple of years before mass production actually begins.

LG Electronics announced their financial results for Q4 2015, with an operating profit of $300 million from sales of $12.5 billion. Full-year operating income was $1 billion, down from $1.58 billion in 2014, from revenues of $48.8 billion (down from $50.1 billion in 2014) due to sluggish demand for TVs and soft mobile phone sales.

On the positive side, LG saw improved OLED TV sales in the fourth quarter, and LG believes that 2016 will see wider acceptance of their new OLED TVs and the company will continue to expand its TV marketing initiatives.

According to HD Guru, LG Electronics is running a limited-time VIP pre-launch program for its new 65" 4K Signature OLEDG6P OLED TVs. LGE selected several US retailed that will receive in-store demo units and will accept advance pre-orders. The pre-launch program will start after the 2016 Superbowl on February 7th.

HD Guru also reports that the new G6 TVs will cost $7,999 - a thousand dollars more than the new 65" OLEDE6 TVs (which are not shipping yet either, but have been priced at $6,999), and $3,000 more than the 2015 65" EF9500 models. The G6 TVs will actually start shipping towards the end of March 2016.

LG Display demonstrated several exciting OLED displays at CES 2016, and here's a nice video showing most of these displays - the 139" Vertical-Tiled OLED display, a concave OLED, transparent OLEDs and the 18" rollable display: