Samsung Electronics is said to be planning to give its rival LG Electronics a run for its money with the launch of its first ever QD-OLED TVs early next year.
The new TVs are based on a hybrid display technology that combines quantum dot filters used to enhance colour and contrast with OLED panels, which are known for their deep blacks and infinite contrast. The combination clearly has the potential to surpass both QLED and OLED and deliver some of the slickest, most realistic images ever seen on a living room TV.
QD-OLED also has the potential to rival OLED in other areas too, as the displays can be flexible too thanks to the lack of a backlight panel.
Samsung Display’s multi-billion pound investment in QD-OLED production is well known, and the TVs have been rumoured to be on the horizon for some time already. Now, a report from the Korea Economic Daily suggests their arrival is imminent.
The publication has a long history of credible industry leaks, and the report cited “industry sources” as saying Samsung is “developing 55-inch and 65-inch quantum dot organic light emitting diode TVs” with a market launch planned for the first half of 2022. It also mentioned 70-inch models that are due to arrive later that year.
It’s likely that Samsung will unveil its first QD-OLED TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2022, the article said.
“Samsung is strengthening its premium strategy,” one of the sources said. “Next year it plans to unveil new QLED and QD-OLED TVs in the quantum dot category as well as Micro LED TVs in various sizes.”
The QD-OLED TVs will almost certainly be premium products, with the report saying they will sit above its Neo QLED line but below its more advanced MicroLED displays. If so, they will likely be more expensive than its current top-tier MiniLED and 8K TVs.
Samsung’s 2021 4K QN950A flagship is priced at £5,999 for the 65-inch model, so assuming the QD-OLEDs cost more than that it’s unlikely the company will sell too many of them. But the report said Samsung may decide to reduce the price of its Neo QLED TVs in order to make space for QD-OLED at more competitive prices. They may go on sale at a similar price point as its existing 8K QLED TVs, the report said.
Despite the apparent high price tag, analysts have previously described QD-OLED as more of a stop-gap display technology that will eventually be surpassed by MicroLED once the company is able to manufacture those models more cheaply.
The same report noted Samsung is making progress there and that it will build a new TV manufacturing hub in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that’s set to begin mass production in 2022. That facility will be dedicated to making smaller 77-inch and 88-inch MicroLED TVs.
It was previously reported that Samsung was hoping to reduce MicroLED manufacturing costs by switching to thin-film transistors instead of the printed circuit boards it currently uses. Samsung Display recently established a task force to look into developing the TFTs for MicroLED.
