CES – New TVs, Few Prices
While this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was like no other in that it was virtual, unfortunately it strikes us as more of the same, with lots of announcements and hoopla over new products and few release dates and prices. Typical announcements, such as Panasonic’s (6752.JP) new JZ2000 OLED TV line has a ‘customized’ OLED display, although it was produced by LG Display, along with roughly 19 other brands, and has a variable refresh rate, which is getting to be a standard item for TVs this year. Panasonic has added ‘side-facing speakers’ and their version of signal processing, which includes the word ‘AI’ (as do most this year if they didn’t last year), and ‘compares content to a library of content types to optimize the picture and sound’, pretty much what every other ‘AI’ based TV signal processor does. Does it continue to build the library based on what is being watched (actual AI) or does it just compare characteristics to tables of data not AI)? Unknown, but what we do know is Panasonic has ‘not yet finalized distribution in the US’ which means no prices or timeline.
LG has updated their TV lines, OLED, QNED, Nano, and UHD (they win the prize for the best buzz words), and as we have previously noted, they have added new OLED TV sizes (83”), added mini-LED full array backlighting to what they call the QNED line (Nano 9 Series), and did the same song and dance as others concerning higher refresh rates and ‘brighter’ displays as others. They did add what we expect will be an entry-level OLED TV line (A Series) with fewer features, but gave no indication of price. If nothing else, LG has a model for almost every consumer, essentially each TV type being available with or without various features, but we are still waiting on price and availability.
TCL (000100.CH), who was the first to offer a mini-LED backlit TV in 2019, is on their 3rd generation mini-LED line, the OD-Zero series, and has added the mini-LED option to other parts of its TV line, although ‘later this year’ is the best we can get on availability, other than the just added 85” addition to the lower-end TCL 4 series, which the company says will be released this quarter at $1,599, with QLED and mini-LED versions to follow later this year. In the US the current prices for 85”/86” 4K TVs run between $1,700 (Hisense (921.HK)) and $4,500 (Samsung), depending on features, but obviously TCL is trying to come in a bit lower to grab those consumers on limited budgets who still have enough wall space for an 86” TV (3.5’ x 6.2’).
Not that we expected much new out of the TV space this year, other than mini-LED backlights, so it seems to be a year of more of the same, perhaps with a leaning toward gaming (higher refresh rate). As Gen 10+ fabs come on line, panel sizes keep increasing and in the long run TV set prices will reflect the declining cost to produce those larger TV sizes, although the trend happens to be in the opposite direction currently. AI is still a big buzz word, but is little more than that for most TV processors and the battle between OLED and quantum dots will continue again this year, although the addition of mini-LEDs in high-end QD enhanced TVs will keep OLED engineers on their toes. We do expect 2022 to be a bigger year for TV technology, with a number of potential display modalities on the horizon, but until then it will be basically more of the same. While the TV industry uses CES each year as an ‘announcement point’ it still seems foolish not to have pricing and availability ready when the new sets are announced. Yes it does give some advantage to those who might hold back a few days to see how other brands are priced, but it seems rather counterproductive to have consumers wait weeks or months to find out when and how much new TVs will cost. JOHO.
LG has updated their TV lines, OLED, QNED, Nano, and UHD (they win the prize for the best buzz words), and as we have previously noted, they have added new OLED TV sizes (83”), added mini-LED full array backlighting to what they call the QNED line (Nano 9 Series), and did the same song and dance as others concerning higher refresh rates and ‘brighter’ displays as others. They did add what we expect will be an entry-level OLED TV line (A Series) with fewer features, but gave no indication of price. If nothing else, LG has a model for almost every consumer, essentially each TV type being available with or without various features, but we are still waiting on price and availability.
TCL (000100.CH), who was the first to offer a mini-LED backlit TV in 2019, is on their 3rd generation mini-LED line, the OD-Zero series, and has added the mini-LED option to other parts of its TV line, although ‘later this year’ is the best we can get on availability, other than the just added 85” addition to the lower-end TCL 4 series, which the company says will be released this quarter at $1,599, with QLED and mini-LED versions to follow later this year. In the US the current prices for 85”/86” 4K TVs run between $1,700 (Hisense (921.HK)) and $4,500 (Samsung), depending on features, but obviously TCL is trying to come in a bit lower to grab those consumers on limited budgets who still have enough wall space for an 86” TV (3.5’ x 6.2’).
Not that we expected much new out of the TV space this year, other than mini-LED backlights, so it seems to be a year of more of the same, perhaps with a leaning toward gaming (higher refresh rate). As Gen 10+ fabs come on line, panel sizes keep increasing and in the long run TV set prices will reflect the declining cost to produce those larger TV sizes, although the trend happens to be in the opposite direction currently. AI is still a big buzz word, but is little more than that for most TV processors and the battle between OLED and quantum dots will continue again this year, although the addition of mini-LEDs in high-end QD enhanced TVs will keep OLED engineers on their toes. We do expect 2022 to be a bigger year for TV technology, with a number of potential display modalities on the horizon, but until then it will be basically more of the same. While the TV industry uses CES each year as an ‘announcement point’ it still seems foolish not to have pricing and availability ready when the new sets are announced. Yes it does give some advantage to those who might hold back a few days to see how other brands are priced, but it seems rather counterproductive to have consumers wait weeks or months to find out when and how much new TVs will cost. JOHO.
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