4K OLED: introduction and market status - Page 14

According to C|Net, LG Display developed a 55" 8K (7680x4320, 160 PPI) OLED TV prototype panel, and the Korean company will show this prototype next month at CES 2015.

LG 55-inch FHD OLED TV

This panel, which has a total of 33.2 million pixel and a brightness of 500 nits, has over 20 display drivers ICs inside (apparently these were developed in collaboration with NVidia), and was already produced in early November. LG is actually planning to commercialize this display, even though many people will argue that it doesn't make much sense to have such a high resolution in a 55" display. A nice technical achievement by LGD in any case.

A few day ago Audi unveiled a new concept two-door car, the Prologue - which uses several new OLED technologies. Audi were kind enough to update me on those new OLEDs and provide some technical details.

So first up is the bendable OLED panel, which is integrated to the center console tunnel and is nearly invisible when not in use. This display is "ergonomically adapted to the driver" and is used for climate control, handwriting input and other vehicle settings. When the car is started, the display pops up and Audi says that the fact that it bends ensures a constant distance to the hand which makes for better ergonomics. When operating the display, the wrist rests on the low-positioned gear selector lever of the eight-speed tiptronic.

According to Digitimes Research, the prices of OLED TVs will be double that of UHD (4K) LCD TVs through 2016. Digitimes expects over 17.8 million UHD TVs to be sold in 2014 - up 475% from 2013. More than half of all UHD TVs will ship to the Chinese market.

LG 65-inch UHD OLED TV

LG is still the only OLED TV maker, and recently the company started a major marketing push of UHD OLED TVs in China. LG's 65" UHD OLED TV is also shipping in the US for $10,000. LG keeps lowering the prices of their OLED TVs, but of course the prices of UHD LCD TVs will also get lower. 

According to a report from Korea, LG Electronics (together with LG Display) are launching a massive UHD OLED TV marketing campaign in China. The Chinese National Day holidays started on October 1st and LG already offers their UHD OLED TVs on sale by subscription.

LG Display has been touring 10 major cities in China in the past months, demonstrating how OLEDs are superior in image quality to LCD TVs.

Earlier this wee LG started shipping their 65" 4K OLED TV (65EC9700) in the US for $9,999 (some outlets price it at $6,000 - $8,000 but these aren't shipping any TVs yet so I'm not sure if it's real).

It was pointed out to me that several online retailers in Switzerland now offer the 65" 4K OLED TV for pre-order. And the price is set at only 3,700-3,900 CHF - which is about $3,900 - 4,100. I talked to two of those retailers, and they say that this is the real price. Both do not have the TVs in stock yet but you can pre-order.

LG's first 4K OLED TV, the 65" 65EC9700, is now shipping in the US - for $9,999. The 77" 77EC9800 will also launch soon, and you can already pre-order it for $24,999.

LG's official price for the 65" OLED TV is indeed $10,000 - but I assumed the real price will be lower. The 55" Full-HD 55EC9300 is still listed as $6,999 while it is being offered for $3,499 or even less). There were also reports that the real price for the 65" will be around $6,250. Cleveland Plasma for example lists the TV for $8,250 - but they are not shipping it yet.

In April 2013 Sony showed a prototype 30" 4K OLED panels at NAB 2013, promising to release them in 2014. Now the company officially launched this professional OLED monitor product, while shipments will begin in February 2015. Price is not determined yet, but it'll sure be expensive...

Sony's BVM-X300 is Sony's flagship professional monitor. Besides the 30" 4K (4096x2016) OLED panel (produced by Sony), it features a high dynamic range, wide viewing angles, quick response and high contrast. The BMV-X300 can display 4K, 2K, UHD and HD formats and supports wide color gamut standards.

LG officially launched its first 4K OLED TV, the 65" 65EC9700 in the US - and it will start shipping in October 2014. The official price is $10,000 - but the real price will be lower. Cleveland Plasma offers it for pre-order for $6,250 for example. The 77" 77EC9800, which will launch in November through "select retailers" has an official price of $25,000.

It's actually weird how way out of touch are LG's official prices for those OLED TVs. The 55EC9300 55" FHD model is still listed as $6,999 while it is being offered for $3,499. The 2013 model (55EA9800) is listed at $8,999 (yes, higher than the new model!) while prices are usually below $3,000.

Panasonic unveiled new 65" 4K OLED TV prototypes at the IFA 2014 trade show. These are just concept models (panels in a stand), and the company's director of home entertainment business says Panasonic is waiting for IFA attendees feedback before they decide to release those commercially.

It is rather surprising to see Panasonic show these TVs. Sony and Panasonic halted their OLED TV joint development project in December 2013, and later on Panasonic (with Sony and the INCJ) formed a new company, JOLED, to develop small/medium OLED panels. Panasonic's OLED TV program development was probably halted, or slowed-down at best.

It turns out that Samsung is OLED TV prototypes at their IFA booth, and two of these prototypes feature 4K panels. Those TVs are placed in one of the corners of the booth, and the staff at the booth says that while Samsung did not abandon OLED TVs, the company has no plans to release any OLED TVs "in the near future".

Despite reports to the contrary, we already know that Samsung isn't planning to release any OLED TVs soon. But it's still good to see OLED TVs being shown at trade shows. Samsung first unveiled 4K OLED prototypes at last year's IFA.