LG Electronics has reportedly delayed the launch of its promised 42-inch OLED TVs until early 2022, according to reports in South Korea.
The Korea Economic Daily cited “industry sources” as saying that the company will showcase its gaming-optimised 42-inch OLED TVs at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which has been confirmed as an in-person event.
The report said LG was delaying the launch until next year to “maximise its marketing efforts” in light of the recently canceled IFA 2021 show, where it first intended to unveil them.
LG was keen to launch the new TVs this year because next-generation gaming has become more popular in the “stay-at-home era”. Facebook’s recent 2021 Games Marketing Insight report found that the number of gamers in the U.S. increased by 28 million from March 2020 to March 2021, while in South Korea, 9.4 million gamers were added in the same period.
The 42-inch OLED displays are expected to have big appeal for gamers as the smaller size is much more practical than larger displays such as the 48-inch ad 55-inch models it currently sells.
OLED is a popular choice for gamers due to its true blacks and higher contrast that results in more realistic graphics. LG’s OLED TVs are also the most sophisticated in the world in terms of their support for advanced gaming features such as Dolby Vision gaming at 4K120Hz (currently LG is the only brand that supports this), Nvidia G-Sync, variable refresh rate and extremely low latency. The Korea Economic Daily’s sources added that the 42-inch OLED TVs will be optimized to work with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.
HDTVTest’s chief reviewer Vincent Teoh explains in his latest video that although the delayed launch of the 42-inch OLED TVs is disappointing, the new screens will certainly be worth the wait. He highlighted a number of reasons to be excited, including their potentially lower cost and the possibility of a “hidden OLED Evo” panel that will help to increase the average lifetime of the displays.
