Samsung Electronics said it will sell its 89-inch Micro LED TV in South Korea, having launched the model in China one year earlier. The company didn’t say anything about wider availability of the TV outside of those two countries, but in any case few will have reason to get excited given its price tag of around $100,000.
The Samsung Micro LED TV comes with the official model name MNA89MS1BACXKR, and is a smaller version of its 110-inch Micro LED model, which launched in 2021 and costs even more.
With the 89-inch model and somewhat cheaper price tag, Samsung is trying to slowly but surely make the display technology more palatable for consumer’s living rooms. After all, many people have acquired 85-inch LCD TVs and 83-inch and 97-inch OLED models for their homes. By making it smaller, the Micro LED TV becomes a more realistic option for some household living rooms, though of course the expensive price tag will still limit the number of people who can afford it.
The trend towards larger-screen sizes has very much caught Samsung’s attention, and it actually sells an even bigger, 98-inch QLED 4K TV for the somewhat more reasonable, but still not cheap, price of $7,999. LG Electronics 97-inch OLED TV is even more expensive, likely to cost around $25,000 when it goes on sale later this year. Still, that’s way more affordable than Samsung’s next-generation Micro LED.
Micro LED is said to be superior to OLED technology in several ways, with higher brightness and contrast and no risk of burn in. The technology is also modular, meaning it’s possible to build a range of custom screen-sizes. With Micro LED, the LEDs are so small that each one can function as an individual pixel, with its own light source, eliminating the need for a backlight. As a result, the display is slimmer and the image can be controlled better.
Samsung has struggled with the problem of shrinking Micro LED for some years already. For technical reasons, it becomes exponentially more difficult to maintain 4K resolution the smaller you go, and Samsung believes that a minimum 4K resolution is necessary for anything marketed as a premium TV. However, Samsung is believed to be making progress, and is also said to have a 76-inch Micro LED TV on its roadmap.
Taehwan Hwang, VP of Samsung Electronics Korea, told FlatPanels HD the company will “expand the Micro LED lineup” to 76-, 101- and 114-inch models at a future date, but was no more specific than that.
As the sizes get smaller, it’s hoped Micro LED TVs will also become more affordable. Even so, it’s still likely to be a number of years before the average consumer can consider buying one.
