Samsung OLED TV again
According to local Korean tech press, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) has confirmed that it is in final negotiations with LG Display (LPL) to purchase OLED panels in 2022. Said to be in concluding discussions over price, volume, and panel details, the deal worth ‘trillions’ (a trillion won = $847m US) is a departure for Samsung Electronics, who has not offered a retail OLED TV product since it showed a demo of its KN55S9C at CES back in 2013. That set, which sold for ~$9,000 was available for a short time in the US and Korea but was never put into mass production, after which Samsung decided to end its RGB OLED TV development, focusing on quantum dot enhanced LCD TVs for its premium line.
Samsung OLED TV Demo (2013) - Source: OLED-info
The rumor that Samsung will be purchasing OLED panels from LGD has surfaced a number of times over the last year or so, with Samsung stating that the rumor was not true, so despite the assertion by Korean media, there remains some question as to the validity of the statements. More specifically, if Samsung were to decide to offer an OLED TV line to customers, they would have little choice in who they would buy from as LG Display is the only volume producer of OLED TV panels. Samsung Display (pvt), Samsung Electronics’ display production affiliate is expected to be producing ~1m QD/OLED panels in 2022, the majority of which will be purchased by its parent and Sony (SNE), but production is limited to one 30,000 sheet/month line, which would be ~2% of Samsung’s yearly TV volume.
Samsung will likely expand its Mini-LED/QD offerings in 2022, and will have a multitude of QD LCD TV products, but continues to look for high-end products that it can use to expand its premium TV line. While packaging OLED TV panels from LG under the Samsung name would be no different from the many LCD panels Samsung buys from other panel producers and uses to build its brand named TVs, it does run counter to Samsung’s claims that WOLED (White OLED with Color Filter) is an inferior technology, a mantra Samsung has used in the past. When tasked with finding a way around such a conflict, we would guess that the memories of those in the Samsung TV marketing department would say “기억나지 않는다”, aka “I don’t remember.”
Samsung will likely expand its Mini-LED/QD offerings in 2022, and will have a multitude of QD LCD TV products, but continues to look for high-end products that it can use to expand its premium TV line. While packaging OLED TV panels from LG under the Samsung name would be no different from the many LCD panels Samsung buys from other panel producers and uses to build its brand named TVs, it does run counter to Samsung’s claims that WOLED (White OLED with Color Filter) is an inferior technology, a mantra Samsung has used in the past. When tasked with finding a way around such a conflict, we would guess that the memories of those in the Samsung TV marketing department would say “기억나지 않는다”, aka “I don’t remember.”
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