OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News - Page 61

Sony canceled their OLED TV JV with Panasonic back in 2013, and since then the company is still developing OLED technologies, and is reportedly in talks with LGD to supply OLED panels - but currently the company is focused on LCD TVs. Sony says that they "haven't reached the full potential of LCDs".

At CES, Sony introduced a new technology that they call Backlight Master Drive (BMD) - which is a new backlighting system that improves the color and brightness of LCDs - and also enables LCDs to better support HDR content. BMD TVs can go up to 4,000 nits (!) - and special "software algorithms and intelligent local dimming" help improve contrast. Sony is specifically trying to compete with the image quality of LG's new OLED TVs.

According to ETNews, LG Display's Vice-Chairman said that the company's goal is to ship 1 million OLED TV panels in 2016 and 1.5 million in 2017. In 2015, LGD shipped around 400,000 OLED panels.

LG's original plan was to sell 600,000 OLED TV panels in 2015 and 1.5 million in 2016. The company later said they will ship less panels in 2015 as more customer want larger panels (65" over 55") which means that LG can produce less panels each month.

LG announced their 2016 OLED TV lineup only a few days ago, but already the first TV is ready to pre-order. The 65" flat 4K OLEDE6 TV now lists on Amazon.com for $6,999. The TV should ship by March although Amazon does not guarantee this.

It's great to see LG's new OLEDs already on offer so quickly. The E6 is a very high-end TV, although LG also announce an even higher-end model (the Signature G6). LG also announced lower-end modules, the flat B6 series and curved C6 series. It'll be interesting to see the price of all those new TVs.

According to ETNews, Samsung Display is under pressure from the LCD business, and is expected to make a final decision regarding a future OLED TV panel production facility investment. According to Digitimes, SDC have resolved the technological issues that previously resulted in low production yields, but there are still many challenges before mass production is possible.

Samsung OLED TV (2009)

I think that the main pressure for Samsung Electronics is actually from LG whose OLED TVs get great reviews and a lot of press. If Samsung wait too long, they may end up losing the future OLED TV market, and already I believe they are starting to be seen as less innovating. And losing to LG will be the most shameful of all...

LG announced their OLED TV lineup in 2016. The company will release four new OLED TV series, all of them use 4K panels (flat and curved). LG will also continue to produce and market the FHD models announced in 2015. All the new TVs support LG's new Web OS 3, HDR and LG's Color Prime PRO technology.

So first up we have the high end Signature G6 line. This is an ultra-slim on-glass design that uses a high-end pivoting speakers. The 65" G6 will launch towards the end of February 2016 while the 77" model will launch a new months later. Prices were not announced yet.

In September 2015 Panasonic announced the company's first OLED TV, the TX-65CZ950. This TV hasn't been released yet, but Panasonic is showing it again at CES 2016, and confirms that it will be sold in the US too.

The CZ950 uses a curved 65" 4K OLED panel (produced by LG Display) that features Panasonic's 4K Pro tech which includes advanced gradation controls and 3D color look tables. The TV supports HDR and is THX certified.

LG Display announced it will showcase several OLED prototypes and products at CES 2016 next week. LGD will show 65" and 77" 4K HDR OLED TVs, a paper-thin 55" concept, a 139" Vertical-Tiled OLED display and a 18" rollable OLED that has a curvature radius of 30 mm.

Most of these displays were already on display. The 18" rollable OLED was first demonstrated in July 2014 and in May 2015 LGD announced flat 0.97 mm thick 55" OLEDs. The 139" tiled display is now, although a few months ago LGD did showcase a 111" double-sided wave display that was made from three attached 65" 4K OLED panels.

Next month LG will unveil a new premium home appliance brand - the LG Signature. This is the first time LG integrates different kinds of home appliances under one brand. The new ultra-premium line will target the "sensible rich".

LG further said that the new Signature line will consist (at first) of washing machines, refrigerators, air purifiers - and OLED TVs. The LG Signature OLED TV is focused on its essential element, a screen display - and will have no other elements to let users fully immerse in the image.

Earlier this month LG announced that it will install several large OLED "sculptures" at the N Seoul Tower, as part of a new OLED TV marketing campaign. The 248 55" OLED TV panels are are now in place - in four different installations.

On the tower's first floor, LG installed the OLED Panorama and OLED tunnel. On the second floor is the OLED circle and on the fourth floor there is the 24-meters long OLED Wave.

According to a report in China, Skyworth launched new 55" and 65" 4K HDR OLED TVs earlier this week. The 55" one will be priced at ¥14,999 ($2300 USD) and the 65" will be priced at ¥25,000 ($3850 USD). Those OLED TVs currently has a premium of around 50% over LCDs, but Skyworth aims to bring down prices in 2016 (to a 30% premium).

Skyworth Group's VP Liu Tong Chi said that OLED TVs are finally reached mass-market promotion, and Skyworth aims to sell 30,000 OLED TVs by March 2016 (the end of their 2015 fiscal year) and 200,000 OLED TVs by March 2017. Skyworth's VP expects OLED TVs to reach a 30% market share in China by 2020.