Samsung sees no future in OLED TVs

Samsung has no plans to resume production of OLED televisions. According to Kim Hyun-suk, head of the display division at Samsung Electronics, too little progress has been made in the difficult and expensive production process.

Speaking to the Korea Herald, Hyun-suk said he “always said it would be two to three years before Samsung would consider OLED TV production again.” Samsung has been making OLED televisions for a short time since 2013, but stopped doing so again in 2014.

The Samsung CEO now states that OLED televisions do not fit into the South Korean manufacturer’s vision of the future, because no major progress has been made since 2013 in making the production of large OLED panels cheaper and easier.

OLED TVs offer perfect black reproduction and very high contrast, because pixels can be completely switched off. Samsung showed its first OLED TV for consumers at the IFA in 2013, a 55″ model with a curved screen. At the time, it was the cheapest OLED TV in the Benelux, with a suggested retail price of 7999 euros.

Currently, LG is the only manufacturer that sells OLED TVs to consumers on a large scale. That manufacturer has managed to reduce the price of OLED televisions considerably in recent years. The 55 “full HD models are currently for sale for about 1700 euros. UHD OLED TVs are available from 2700 euros. This makes them considerably more expensive than LCD variants.

Samsung uses RGB OLEDs, where the color balance deteriorates over time, because the different sub pixels do not wear out equally quickly. LG holds the patent for making OLED panels with white OLEDs. These panels work just like LCDs with color filters to display colors. Because LG owns the patent, Samsung cannot make televisions with white OLEDs. This is probably why the company chooses to invest further in LCD techniques such as ‘quantum dot’.

Update 13.43 pm: Explanation about the difference between white OLEDs and RGB OLEDs adjusted.