TVs with OLED technology will start their assault on users in the first month of 2012. LG has announced it will reveal in just two weeks, at the Computer Electronics Show, the prototype of the largest white-OLED TV (technology purchased from Kodak in 2009), with a diagonal of 55 inches (140 cm) – a current record size. Moreover, the manufacturer claims that the model can be found in stores next summer. The TV set will have a thickness of only 5 mm and provides a 100,000:1 contrast, a response time of 0.01 milliseconds, a wider range of colors and lower power consumption than LCD TVs. The new screen created by LG has lower costs of production, thanks to Oxide TFT technology – a less expensive solution than existing displays, which use the Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) technology.
The same manufacturer revealed, just a year ago, at the IFA Berlin, a television with the same OLED technology (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) with a diagonal of 31 inches, which costs $2,500. LG stopped the development of smaller models, which were not profitable enough. And if prices of this type are prohibitive at this time, experts expect that by 2016 they will be at the level of the LCD TVs.
The other major Korean manufacturer, Samsung is working at the same level: it seems that it prepares also for the CES 2012, a similar OLED TV. It will use the manufacturing process Fine Metal Mask (FMM), and not Mask Scanning Small (SMS). The company announced that it will begin mass production in late 2012 or early 2013 at the latest.
According to research firm DisplaySearch, the two companies – Samsung and LG – could reach next year a production of OLED TVs of about 50,000 units, sales of such terminals will reach in 2012, $278,000,000. Research Division of Goldman Sachs investment fund expected an annual growth rate of 104% for OLED TVs, which will reach by 2020 25% of the TV sets.
Rumors say that Apple would also work on an OLED TV – the company is tapping a potential agreement with LG as a provider for 55-inch TVs. Analysts are skeptical that the Korean manufacturer will have sufficient capacity for both companies.