Rumor: Samsung talks with LG to buy millions of OLED TV panelspanelen

Several South Korean media report that Samsung Electronics is in talks with LG Display to buy millions of OLED TV panels in the coming years. However, the president of Samsung’s display division dismisses the stories as rumours.

MTN, among others, claims that talks between LG Display and Samsung Electronics are well advanced and that delivery could start as early as this year. Samsung would receive one million OLED TV panels in the second half of 2021 and that would grow to four million panels next year. LG Display expects to be able to produce more than ten million OLED panels by 2022.

However, to IT Chosun, Samsung Electronics, through display president Jong-Hee Han, says that supplying OLED panels to Samsung is ‘only rumours’. A Samsung Electronics employee also says that there have been no talks between the two companies about purchasing OLED panels. An anonymous source at LG Display tells IT Chosun that those conversations have indeed taken place, but that it is not yet clear whether the two will come to an agreement.

ETNews writes that Samsung is probably talking to LG because of the increased cost of LCD panels. Among other things, the shortage of chips would ensure that components such as display driving chips have become more expensive. The higher costs mean that Samsung has lower margins on the TVs. Therefore, it would like to switch to the OLED panels, because OLED TVs are more profitable. SEDaily notes that Samsung Display itself will stop producing LCD panels this year, because Chinese suppliers can supply the panels for less money.

Samsung may want to use the OLED panels as a temporary bridge until Samsung’s own QD OLED TVs are available. According to an earlier rumor, Samsung Display is working on TV and monitor prototypes based on these QD OLED panels. Samsung Display uses blue OLEDs with quantum dots and red and green color filters. However, Samsung Electronics, the business unit that makes televisions from the panels, is said to be concerned about production numbers, yield rate and maximum brightness.

Presumably, Samsung wants to avoid having to sell LCD TVs with low margins while its own QD OLED TVs are not yet available, and will therefore purchase LG Display panels based on white OLEDs. This technology from LG Display is at the basis of all current OLED TVs on the market and until now Samsung has always chosen to ignore this and mainly focus on its QLED TVs, which are still LCD TVs. are TVs. This year, just like for other brands, Samsung is also bringing the necessary mini LED TVs on the market. Those are still LCD TVs. If Samsung would actually go into business with LG Display, that would constitute a significant change of course.