A TV breakthrough is on the way, but we’re going to have to be patient.
According to FlatpanelsHD, while reporting on its second-quarter financing, Universal Display Corporation (UDC), a prominent developer and manufacturer of OLED display technology, announced that the commercial debut of its blue phosphorescent OLED technology would be delayed until the second half of 2025.
Previously, the rollout was planned for the second half of 2024.
According to Korean newspaper The Elec, Samsung announced last fall that it had pushed back the implementation of blue PHOLED TV technology to the second half of 2025. This squares with UDC's timeline, and potentially puts the tech in homes in 2026 at the absolute earliest.
PHOLED for all?
To understand why this delay is a bummer for the TV business — and potentially your home theater — let's brush up on the basics. Red and green phosphorescent OLED technology has been around for a while now. If you already own one of the best OLED TVs, you might even have red and green PHOLEDs in your living room right now. In fact, part of the reason you may own an OLED TV today is a direct result of the development of red and green PHOLEDs, as they allow for energy-efficient, longer-lasting OLED displays thanks to their material makeup.
Blue PHOLEDs, however, have proven trickier to develop due to the high amount of energy blue needs to be, well, blue. All of that energy translates to heat, and higher heat spells a shorter shelf life for your new, fancy TV. No one wants to actively destroy their TV just by watching it, right?
This is why most OLED displays blend the two types. The LG C4 OLED, for instance, combines red and green PHOLEDs with blue fluorescent OLEDs. A QD-OLED like the Samsung S95D uses blue fluorescent OLEDs exclusively, as it leverages quantum dots to create red and green. Each TV's approach to creating red, green, and blue is different, but in both cases, blue is the one that just ain't pulling its weight, comparatively speaking.
With blue PHOLEDs baked in, both of these TVs — but especially the QD-OLED — would be far more energy efficient. Your OLED TV would've been cheaper to manufacture and very likely would live longer, too. There's even a chance it would sport a brighter picture. In other words, everybody wins.
For now, commercialized blue PHOLEDs remain just out of reach — a blue dream, if you will. So don't throw out your OLED TV just yet, is what I'm saying.
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