When a 99” TV is Considered Small
Micro-LED TVs are a hot topic of conversation in the CE space, as we have noted many times, and while they are touted as the ‘next’ display technology, the technology comes with a number of issues that make predicting the Micro-LED takeover of the display space a bit challenging. Among the technology’s biggest proponents is Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), who has been pushing the technology in the B2B space by producing a modular system that can be built into almost any vertical or horizontal configuration. As with any new technology, the early iterations of such products are quite expensive and virtually impractical in all but the most unusual situations, but Samsung has faced similar challenges before and pushed on despite the technology’s trials and tribulations.
More to prove that it can be done, Samsung adapted this modular Micro-LED technology to what it calls a residential TV product, albeit one that costs in the neighborhood of $100,000, and promised to augment the 146” 2018 version with a smaller(!) 110” version, which it has done. That said, the company also promised to release an even smaller version, a tiny 99” model in the 1st half of the year, which seems to have passed by. As expected, a Samsung spokesperson said that the delay was due to the ‘high demand’ for the 110” product, but sources have indicated that Samsung has been having trouble adapting the technology to the ‘smaller’ size sets.
While this seems a bit odd considering a 99” TV screen is 86” by 46” and Micro-LED chips are less than 100um each, Samsung is trying to make a transition with the new ‘smaller’ sizes, which has presented additional difficulties. A 4K TV has almost 8.4m pixels, each with a Red, Green, and Blue subpixel, and since each one of those sub-pixels is a Micro-LED it means that almost 25m very small LEDs have to be picked up from a wafer and moved to a substrate., a very time-consuming task using even the most advanced transfer technology. Aside from the large numbers and the fact that red LEDs cannot be produced on the same wafer as blue and green LEDs, the inevitability of ‘bad’ Micro-LEDs in such a large array means that time must be taken to remove and replace a number of defective LEDs, adding to the cost of producing such a device. In order to reduce the transfer time, Samsung has been looking for ways to produce all three color LEDs on a single wafer, which is a way to allow the transfer of 8.3m pixels containing red, green and blue micro-LEDs, rather than 24.9m single color micro-LEDs.
While Samsung is not the only one looking to make such a technology upgrade, the company does have it own LED production lines and experience in commercial LED production, but it seems that such a process is taking longer than expected to master and has delayed the ‘smaller’ models of Samsung’s micro-LED TV line, and will probably delay the 86” and 76” models that the company promise to release before the end of this year. We certainly don’t fault Samsung for trying, although it is far better to under promise and over-deliver than to miss aggressive timelines, but we expect that if Samsung does miss its residential Micro-LED targets this year, we will see such TVs at various shows in 1H next year, and relatively early in the year, but as to when they will become available to consumers and at a cost that is at least just under nose-bleed level is likely more of a 2023 item; we hope.
More to prove that it can be done, Samsung adapted this modular Micro-LED technology to what it calls a residential TV product, albeit one that costs in the neighborhood of $100,000, and promised to augment the 146” 2018 version with a smaller(!) 110” version, which it has done. That said, the company also promised to release an even smaller version, a tiny 99” model in the 1st half of the year, which seems to have passed by. As expected, a Samsung spokesperson said that the delay was due to the ‘high demand’ for the 110” product, but sources have indicated that Samsung has been having trouble adapting the technology to the ‘smaller’ size sets.
While this seems a bit odd considering a 99” TV screen is 86” by 46” and Micro-LED chips are less than 100um each, Samsung is trying to make a transition with the new ‘smaller’ sizes, which has presented additional difficulties. A 4K TV has almost 8.4m pixels, each with a Red, Green, and Blue subpixel, and since each one of those sub-pixels is a Micro-LED it means that almost 25m very small LEDs have to be picked up from a wafer and moved to a substrate., a very time-consuming task using even the most advanced transfer technology. Aside from the large numbers and the fact that red LEDs cannot be produced on the same wafer as blue and green LEDs, the inevitability of ‘bad’ Micro-LEDs in such a large array means that time must be taken to remove and replace a number of defective LEDs, adding to the cost of producing such a device. In order to reduce the transfer time, Samsung has been looking for ways to produce all three color LEDs on a single wafer, which is a way to allow the transfer of 8.3m pixels containing red, green and blue micro-LEDs, rather than 24.9m single color micro-LEDs.
While Samsung is not the only one looking to make such a technology upgrade, the company does have it own LED production lines and experience in commercial LED production, but it seems that such a process is taking longer than expected to master and has delayed the ‘smaller’ models of Samsung’s micro-LED TV line, and will probably delay the 86” and 76” models that the company promise to release before the end of this year. We certainly don’t fault Samsung for trying, although it is far better to under promise and over-deliver than to miss aggressive timelines, but we expect that if Samsung does miss its residential Micro-LED targets this year, we will see such TVs at various shows in 1H next year, and relatively early in the year, but as to when they will become available to consumers and at a cost that is at least just under nose-bleed level is likely more of a 2023 item; we hope.
RSS Feed