Samsung is also going to make a consumer version of ‘The Wall’
During the CES this year Samsung released their new MicroLED display that they called The Wall . The idea is crazy: a modular screen that you can make as large as you want, simply by connecting multiple panels without borders. Samsung is now far enough to produce the MicroLEDs to scale that they can start selling the concept, but that will initially be in a business context. The Wall Professional is being sold for the first time by September, which means that the 80-millimeter thick screen sections can be hung up in retail, trade and other business locations.
However, the consumer version is not very far away from us either. Samsung says to the Korea Herald that a version of The Wall is going to come home in the near future, although he does not specify whether that will be in 2019. That version is only 30 millimeters thick or even thinner and also with this you can decide how big your screen will be by using more modular parts.
You can not call it a TV
Samsung wants the Wall to be the term ‘tv’, because they want to make it clear that it can be a screen of any size and every proportion, depending on how much modular parts you use for it. That means you can start thinking about how big your Wall will be. The size is only limited by the space on your wall, although the space in your wallet will certainly be a factor in the first few years, especially if Han Jong-hee of Samsung calls the screen ‘luxury’ in a home entertainment context.
The idea is that you use the screen the way you want it to show “everything you’re comfortable with” just like mobile displays. That in itself is a noble endeavor, but in reality a lot of the things you can connect to a screen find it quite nice when a screen has a certain aspect ratio (like 16: 9). You can of course make a wall that forms a whole square on your wall, but then you have mainly bought a lot of modules that show a black bar. Wondering how they will solve that aspect of The Wall for consumers.
On the growth can buy
Anyway, the technology behind the modular screen is impressive. MicroLED would last significantly longer than other OLEDs (the name LG was not mentioned during the press conference where this was announced, but it was clear what they meant) and by a number of other techniques such as color, contrast and black improvement would a fantastic screen. If Samsung manages to make it so that you can build an ‘average’ TV with The Wall for a price you can not buy cars for, this could well be a success. Buying a TV (sorry, screen) on growth will appeal to many people.