Bang & Olufsen will launch OLED television in 2017 in collaboration with LG

Bang & Olufsen has entered into a partnership with LG for the development and production of televisions. The Danish manufacturer wants to combine its design, acoustics and smarthome integration with LG’s OLED technology in the TVs. The first OLED TV from B&O should appear in 2017.

LG is currently the only manufacturer that makes large-format OLED panels for televisions. The South Korean group uses these panels in its own televisions and Panasonic has also announced an OLED TV with a panel from LG. As a result of the new collaboration, the panels will also find their way to Bang & Olufsen televisions from 2017 onwards. Previously, the manufacturer of luxury products used plasma panels from Panasonic and LCD variants from Samsung in its BeoVision televisions. The Danish manufacturer does not make screen panels itself.

The partnership with LG Electronics is an important step for the Danish company to remain profitable in the long term, according to Bang & Olufsen. B&O believes it can increase its margins and reduce costs through the agreement. The potential cuts would amount to 150 to 200 million Danish kroner, or about 21 to 27 million euros.

At the end of November, Bang & Olufsen announced that it had received several acquisition proposals. Now the Danish company says it is still in talks with a potential candidate. However, no binding agreements have yet been made and the outcome of the talks is still uncertain.

One of the BeoVision TVs from the current Bang & Olufsen range