Samsung to release microLED TV before the end of the year

Samsung wants to release a TV based on a microLED screen before the end of the year. The manufacturer showed a prototype of such a TV in January at the CES electronics fair, but so far did not say when such a device would be released.

Samsung says in the discussion of its quarterly figures that it wants to ‘strengthen its leadership in the premium TV market’ in the second half of this year. The manufacturer wants to do this by ‘releases innovative products such as microLED TVs’. It is the first time that Samsung openly talks about a moment that it wants to release those TVs.

As with OLED TVs, a microLED screen has no backlight, so the contrast is much higher than with LCDs. For such a TV, Samsung has to put the small individual LEDs on a substrate, something with which it has had problems. More information about the technology behind microleds can be found in Yole Development’s presentation on this topic. Samsung presented The Wall in January, a 146″ TV based on microLEDs. It is unknown whether it wants to release a TV in this format this year or whether it is a smaller TV.

The quarterly figures also show that Samsung is suffering from lower demand for screens. Especially flexible OLED screens are not doing as well as expected, presumably due to disappointing demand for the iPhone X. Many manufacturers also opt for LCDs for smartphones. Samsung took advantage of the early release of its own Galaxy S9 smartphones. In terms of components, the demand for nand memory decreased due to a declining smartphone market.

Compared to the same period last year, the turnover of Samsung as a whole increased by about 20 percent to 60.5 quadrillion Korean won, which is currently about 47 billion euros. This is mainly due to more turnover from the production of smartphones and memory. Net profit rose by about 50 percent to almost nine billion euros.