With all the great things we hear about OLED TVs, it's understandable to think that the next display technology is here. Ultra-thin dimensions, eye-popping contrast ratio and low power consumption, what's not to like? The technology does have some big uncertainties, however. According to the link, the most significant isn't display lifetime, but market potential. DisplaySearch projects huge growth for OLED TVs, with a market of $37 million in 2008 to $884 million in 2011. That would outpace the predicted 15% growth in LCD TV demand over the same period. Rosy for OLED, right? Not so fast -- the total market for LCD in 2011 is expected to be $92 billion (with a "b"). When considering these projections, it's easy to see why the president of Samsung SDI says OLEDs are "ideal for portable displays," but holds off on making any TV display commitments. The fact that Sony is committed to producing a set makes OLED more promising than some other next-gen technologies, but we're not throwing out our plasmas and LCDs yet.Are OLED TVs a reasonable prospect?
With all the great things we hear about OLED TVs, it's understandable to think that the next display technology is here. Ultra-thin dimensions, eye-popping contrast ratio and low power consumption, what's not to like? The technology does have some big uncertainties, however. According to the link, the most significant isn't display lifetime, but market potential. DisplaySearch projects huge growth for OLED TVs, with a market of $37 million in 2008 to $884 million in 2011. That would outpace the predicted 15% growth in LCD TV demand over the same period. Rosy for OLED, right? Not so fast -- the total market for LCD in 2011 is expected to be $92 billion (with a "b"). When considering these projections, it's easy to see why the president of Samsung SDI says OLEDs are "ideal for portable displays," but holds off on making any TV display commitments. The fact that Sony is committed to producing a set makes OLED more promising than some other next-gen technologies, but we're not throwing out our plasmas and LCDs yet.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Corrado @ Oct 12th 2007 7:41PM
Of course Mr Samsung is going to say something like "Maybe for portable displays but not for big screen sets like the ones we produce now, no fickle customer you have nothing to worry about, buy our current range of TV's, you have no need to worry about a better tech coming along and making your new $2000 purchase look stupid"
Watch them change their tune as soon OLED becomes mass market.
Sony for all their faults are at least coming straight out and saying they think its the future.
As for the tech it self, I cant wait, I have recently moved back to a CRT for graphics work and I now have problems watching movies on a LCD/Plasma, I cant get past the poor blacks! Hell even calling them blacks is a bit of a stretch, they are gray at best.
Aaron @ Oct 12th 2007 8:35PM
Take a look at the 81 series Samsungs. The deepest blacks I have seen on an LCD...period.
craig @ Oct 12th 2007 8:43PM
is there a typo in this article re $92BN total market - that should be total market for "LCD" (not OLED), correct?
Kevin G @ Oct 12th 2007 8:43PM
that $92 billion figure is for LCD, not OLED
Steven Kim @ Oct 12th 2007 11:58PM
@craig, @KevinG - Argh! Thanks for catching that, guys.
JeffDM @ Oct 13th 2007 1:03AM
The future can hold many surprises. If it's OLED for flat panels, then I welcome the OLED overlords if I want a flat panel. But SED was supposed to replace plasma & LCD, but that didn't happen. OLED is the next thing, but probably has an actual chance this time. Now, they need to get their pricing down and panel size up quickly or else LCD and plasma will be so entrenched just because they still are maturing and still goig down in price and still gradually increasing in size too. 11" is a far cry from 65", by about a factor of 350 on area. Granted, maybe 65" will still be above average when OLED comes of age, OLED will have to fight the "good enough' syndrome.
GripperDon @ Oct 13th 2007 1:27AM
Can it be a 120inch wall unit? I want one!!!