Will we soon see Samsung OLED TVs? The company that has long-favored LED panels might be planning its own take on the best TV technology for next year.
According to a new Korea Economic Daily report (via SamMobile,) Samsung is working on Quantum Dot OLED, or QD-OLED, TVs. The first QD-OLED sets would come in 55-inch and 65-inch versions and be ready for market in the "first half of 2022," KED's sources claim.
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Instead of strictly splitting QLED vs. OLED panels, Samsung reportedly designed a hybrid panel that elevate's OLED picture quality with Quantum Dot pixels. Though the company has recently divvied efforts to develop Samsung MicroLED TVs, Quantum Dot has been the heart of its LED business for several years now.
While OLED is widely considered the premium picture technology, it's expensive. The price, plus the added brightness and viewing angles of Quantum Dot like we've seen on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED TV, has made the best Samsung TVs nearly as attractive as LG's or Sony's OLEDs.
It was previously rumored Samsung would buy OLED panels from LG to diversify its own TV offerings, but this new report suggests the company is taking an in-house approach. KED said Samsung Display began producing QD-OLED panels last year.
Besides picture quality, flexibility could be a possible benefit of QD-OLED. The report reveals Samsung's upcoming TV technology isn't powered by fragile backlighting, meaning a QD-OLED set might be able to contort like the LG Rollable OLED.
Party tricks are neat, but consumers will care more about price. KED's analysts believe QD-OLED is less expensive to manufacture than OLED, so it could be pitched as an affordable alternative to the pricey panels that dominate the premium TV market.
If Samsung QD-OLED TVs are close to a completed product, we could see them as early as CES 2022, taking place in January. It's not uncommon for TV brands to bring new panels as experimental prototypes, too.
That approach seems more plausible since the Samsung should have its hands full with MicroLED and NeoQLED, but it also could be ready to push the boundaries of TV tech even further.
