Samsung says no OLED TVs next year
A senior Samsung Electronics executive has reiterated the company's plan to release no new OLED TVs in the near future, shifting focus to quantum dot LCD models.
Kim Hyun-seok, head of Samsung Electronics' TV business, has told reporters in Seoul that it's still too early for the company to launch OLED TVs and that Samsung's "strategy on OLED TV this year as well as next year remains unchanged."
After competing with cross-town rival LG Electronics for years to commercialize OLED TVs, Samsung has recently announced that it will be focusing on UHD TVs with LCD panels.
Meanwhile, LG is steadfastly continuing investments in OLED panels and products and said it is unafraid to go at it alone. "We will put everything into OLED as we are confident that it will replace LCD as the TV standard in the coming years," said LG spokesman San Kim. LG showed off a full HD OLED TV last year and an Ultra HD OLED TV this year with no plan to back down any time soon.
Executives of LG Display, LG Electronics' display panel-making affiliate, said in a conference call for its quarterly earnings that the company is well prepared to continue manufacturing OLED panels.
Samsung Display, meanwhile, is focusing on small and mid-sized OLED panels for smartphones. For OLED panels to be used in TVs, the company is developing a "printing" method over the current "doping
method" to make mass production easier and cheaper.
Samsung Electronics is planning to showcase quantum dot LCD TVs in next year's Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas. QD LCD TVs were considered difficult to produce just a few years ago, as cadmium, a substance hazardous to humans, was needed to make them. However, Samsung insiders told ZDNet Korea that a collaboration with chemical firms has solved this problem.
A Samsung spokesman confirmed Kim's statements but declined to elaborate further.
Update: LG was incorrectly referenced in the first paragraph. The quote is about Samsung only.