Here’s something surprising: More than half of Samsung TVs are reportedly made with panels from other manufacturers, according to a report filed by South Korean news outlet, The Elec.
A breakdown of Samsung Electronics’ panel inventory shows that four Chinese panel makers — CSOT, HKC, BOE, and CHOT — accounted for nearly 60% of all the panels used in Samsung TVs that have been produced in 2023.
The source of the issue? Samsung Display hasn't been making nearly as many panels as previous years, which has meant that Samsung Electronics has needed to look elsewhere for panels for its TVs. That said, Samsung Display says it will increase its output to 38 million LCD TV panels this year from the 34.2 million it made last year — which is still down from the 47.8 million panels it made in 2021.
With more LCD panels in the works, there’s a chance that a greater number of Samsung TVs made in 2024 will contain Samsung displays but, as of now, you’re very likely to have a Chinese-made display inside your 2023 Samsung TV.
What's Samsung Display doing instead?
Instead of making more LCD TVs, Samsung Display (a separate entity from Samsung Electronics that exists under the same conglomerate corporation) has been putting efforts into its QD-OLED production.
Those QD-OLED panels are what's being used in the Samsung S95C OLED and Sony A95K OLED TV, two of the best TVs we've seen in 2023, so we can't blame Samsung Display from wanting to move on to the next big thing.
There's also nothing inherently wrong with using panels from other manufacturers. China Star Optoelectronics Technology, abbreviated to CSOT, is owned by TCL, makers of some truly stunning TVs in their own right. The TCL QM8, for example, is one of the brightest TVs we've ever tested.
It's also a common practice in the automotive industry where parts made by different factories are put all-together but still sold under one brand name.
Regardless, it's important to know where electronics are being made so data like this is important to disseminate to the public.
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