4K OLED: introduction and market status - Page 13

LG Electronics officially announced their spring 2015 TV lineup, launching several new TVs. Unfortunately, while LG announced six new models during CES, currently they announce just one - the 65" EG9600, which will cost $8,999. LG also said that they will continue to offer the 55" FHD 55EC9300, with the official price set at $3,499 (earlier today we reported that this OLED TV can be bought for less than $2,400 at some retailers).

LG EG9600 OLED TV

According to an earlier report, LG's first OLED to launch in 2015 was supposed to be the 55EG9600 (for $5,499), and a total of four new models were supposed to ship within weeks.

LG's local supplier in Israel announced that it will bring LG's 77EG979Y (77EC9800) 77" 4K OLED TV to Israel in the second quarter of 2015. Interestingly, they reported that someone already bought this TV in Israel - and the cost was $38,800 (including taxes in Israel). This was LG's flagship TV in 2014, but in 2015 LG will launch an even better TV, the bendable 77" EG9900.

The 77EG9700 is a 77" curved UHD (4K, 3840x2160) OLED TV. This TV was first unveiled at the IFA 2013 exhibition. Features include LG's Color Refiner that results in superior color consistency and balance, High Dynamic Range (HDR), passive 3D FPR, LG's Tru-ULTRA HD Engine Pro that can upscale resolutions from SD to 4K and Motion Estimation Motion Compensation (MEMC). The TV also includes LG's newest Smart-TV platform.

LG launched its 65" 4K OLED TV (the 65EC9700) in the US in September 2014, but shipments have been very limited and even if you had $9,999 to spare, it was difficult to actually buy one. But now Amazon finally started shipping this high-end OLED TV. 

In March 2014, China's Skyworth released their first OLED TV, the 55" E980 (curved Full-HD WRGB OLED panel, made by LG Display). During CES 2015, the company had two TVs on display, both curved and with 4K (UHD) resolution (55" and 65" in size).

According to OLEDNet, Skyworth's marketing chief says that the company will launch four OLED TV models in 2015 for the Chinese market, including the 55" UHD one.

LG and Panasonic were not the only companies showcasing OLED TVs at CES. Chinese-based makers Haier, Changhong and Konka all showed new OLED TVs, and all of those TVs use 4K OLED panels supplied by LG Display.

So first up we have Haier with their 55" Full-HD 55H9800. (shown above). This is a curved TV that has a super-thin metal frame that is only 1.5 mm thick.

Last year Panasonic unveiled new 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes at the IFA 2014 trade show, and the company is showing what seems to be the same prototypes at CES 2015. Panasonic executives at CES said that the company plans to release these OLED TVs in 2015, but the company later denied that it had any immediate plans for commercialization.

Sony and Panasonic halted their OLED TV joint development project in December 2013, and Panasonic (together with JDI, Sony and the INCJ) formed a new company (JOLED) to develop small/medium OLED panels. But the company OLED TV program is reportedly halted (or slowed-down at best) and these new prototypes use panel supplied by LG Display.

Last week LG unveiled nine new OLED TVs, but did not release any pricing information or release dates. Now a Danish web site revealed the prices of five of those TVs, and reportedly these prices originated from LG salesperson.

Here is the full price list. Note that Danish prices include a 25% VAT tax, and are usually higher than in the US. And also these aren't official of course.

LG Electronics announced six new OLED TVs - including some curved TVs, some flat ones - and also the world's first bendable TV. All of LG's new TVs use 4K resolution. LG Display says that LG is committed to the "superior qualities of OLED" and sees 2015 as the breakout year for OLED TVs.

So the most interesting TV is probably the EG9900, which features a 77" 4K OLED panel that can be switched from a flat state to a curved one. It uses a newly developed anti-glare filter and is powered by a ten-core processor (!). LG did not disclose the price and release date of this TV. But it'll probably be very expensive as the company's fixed curved 77" 4K OLED was priced at $29,999 in 2014.

The MHL and Wi-Fi Alliance websites published a list of upcoming products in 2015, and there are several new LG OLED TV models in there, in 55", 65" and 77" sizes. All the OLED TVs from LG in the past year has been curved, and LG did not release a flat OLED TV since the Gallery OLED TV in September 2013, but this may change soon.

The new models include the 65EG990V/65EG9900, 77EG990V/77EG9900, 65EF980V/65EF9800 - all likely to be 4K models - the EG9900 (in 65" and 77" models) will likely be the successors to the current 65" and 77" 4K curved models (the 65EC9700 and the 77EC9800) in the US (the EG990V is the equivalent model in the UK).

Best Buy has been offering LG's 65EC9700 65" 4K OLED TV since September (although shipments have been very limited) and now Digital Trends posted the first review of LG's flagship TV. And the verdict? it's the best TV they ever saw, nothing else comes close (not even LG's 55" FHD OLED TV).

In fact, the reviewer says that "best TV ever" doesn't really do it justice. LG's 65EC9700 got incredible resolution, a top-notch resolution upscaler, perfect black levels, insane contrast, eye-dazzling color, and class-leading WebOS smart TV interface.