LG won't produce larger OLED TVs until 2012

If you're following the fortunes of OLED, this little tidbit from LG CEO Kwon Young Soo that appeared on OLED-Display.net should be of interest.

"We plan to produce 32-inch OLED panels for TVs in 2012," he said, adding: "The commercial success of OLEDs hinges on how it shows its superiority compared to LCD technologies."

Both Samsung and Sony suggested they'd be selling a 32-inch OLED sets by the end of this year or by mid 2010 at the latest. And that may still happen, but the sets would be so prohibitively expensive that for most folks, they wouldn't seem all that real. (Sony's 11-inch OLED TV currently sells for $2,500, so you can see where I'm coming from).

For its part LG was showing a 15-inch prototype at CES this year, but it remains unclear when that model will come out, if ever. However, LG appears to be heavily invested in the much-hyped technology, and plans to hire 1,700 people to produce OLED displays, according to OLED-Display.net. But the company will focus on TV panels rather than cell phone panels "because the larger the display, the more efficient the OLED technology," the LG CEO said.

What's this all add up to? Well, not surprisingly, it looks like it's going to be a while before OLED TVs go mainstream. My guess: you're looking at two to three years. And by that time, of course, LCD will continue to have improved.

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(Source: Engadget via OLED-Display.net)