According to an interesting report from Korea, Samsung Electronics is discussing a potential supply agreement with LG Display for WOLED TV panels. Samsung is aiming, according to the report, to buy 1 million OLED TV panels in 2021, and 4 million (around 50% of LGD's capacity!) in 2022.
This development, if true, may have a major impact on the industry, and may spur LGD (and other OLED makers) to accelerate OLED TV production and capacity expansion plans.
Back in 2013, SDC started to produce OLED TV panels, using an RGB architecture (similar to the company's mobile OLEDs). Samsung Electronics's first (and only) OLED TV was the S9C curved OLED TV that was released in 2013 - but Samsung never followed up with newer models and actually stopped OLED TV production and marketing.
Samsung concentrated its efforts on its QD-enhanced LCD line (QLED, as the company confusingly calls these TVs). For its next generation panels, the company is looking for MicroLED technology, and a hybrid QD-OLED technology - which is entering production but is still not ready for mass production.
As LCD prices are increasing, Samsung is under pressure to release high-end premium TVs to compete with OLEDs and other TVs - which is the main reason for the company's reported agreement with LGD. It could be that Samsung aims to fill the gap in the next 1-2 years until QD-OLED or MicroLED technology is commercialized.
In past years Samsung has been actively criticizing LG's OLED TV technology (mostly concentrating on the burn-in problems). This deal, if it materialized, will be a (well deserved?) admission by Samsung that it made a serious mistake back in 2013 when it chose the wrong technology for its OLED TV production. And an admission that its major local rival, LG, has been right all along.
