Samsung Display has been busy pinning down some new patents in the past few weeks, trademarking terms such as “Zero Bezel”, Dual LED” and “Infinity Screen” that may well be used to market next year’s lineup of TVs.
Samsung secured a patent for Zero Bezel in mid-October, but FlatPanels HD reports that it’s now secured exclusive permission to use “Dual LED” and “Infinity Screen” as well. While Samsung has yet to say anything officially, the fact it’s been granted rights to use those terms is a big hint at what to expect when it launches its 2020 models.
Samsung’s future focus will of course be on quantum dot OLED TVs. The company announced last month it’s investing around $11 billion (around £8.84 billion) to convert some of its current LCD display manufacturing plants to QD-OLED. But new production lines won't be ready for mass production until 2021 at the earliest, which means Samsung’s 2020 TVs will most likely be based on its current QLED display technology.
The terms “Zero Bezel” and “Infinity Screen” are most likely related to the design of Samsung’s TVs rather than the actual technology. So we can expect to see some of the thinnest bezels yet seen on a Samsung TV when the new year rolls around, or perhaps even no bezel at all.
That’s one thing - “Dual LED” is something else. The term suggests Samsung is planning to use dual-layer LCD technology in its next generation of QLED LCD TVs, in which two LCD panels are layered, one atop the other. The first panel is monochrome and is used to modulate the LED backlighting, while the second serves to control the colour.
At this year’s IFA show, Samsung’s rival Panasonic showed off a prototype of the dual LCD panel concept called MegaCon, and it was pretty convincing, enabling pixel-level dimming and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, which is impossible with a single LCD panel.
And so Samsung could well be planning to launch a “Dual LED” of its own sometime in the next year. Or then again the patents might not be related to any new products at all – last year, it was reported to have trademarked the phrase “The Window” but that never showed up in the marketing language of any of its products. Samsung is also developing alternative display technologies such as Micro LED and could well have some surprises in store with that, especially given that it recently announced it’s just started shipping its enormous 292-inch TV system The Wall.
