OLED TV: Introduction and Industry News

In this article, we examine the theoretical question of whether or not it makes sense for LG Display and Samsung Display to merge, into one company.

Note that we have no indications that such a merger is even considered by the two companies, but we feel this is a fascinating topic that should be explored, and is supported by several strong arguments.

We'll start with a short introduction to the two companies, then see why there are many reasons to pursue a merger, then explain the reasons against a possible merger, and finally detail the current financial situations of both companies.

Samsung Display and LG Display

Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. SDC is a leader in OLED production, with a market share of over 40% in the small OLED display market (the second largest player, BOE, holds a market share of around 15%). SDC produces over 300 million AMOLED displays per year - supplying them to Apple's iPhones and tablets, Samsung Electronics Galaxy phones, and many more. The Company also produces larger-area QD-OLED panels for TVs and gaming monitors, and has a capacity of producing around a million TV panels per year. SDC no longer produces any LCDs. SDC does produce microLED displays (but on a very small scale, this is currently a strictly next-gen display technology), and the company develops OLED microdisplays (and also holds OLED microdisplay producer eMagin which it acquired in 2023 for $243 million).

LG Display announced that its entire lineup of OLED TV and monitor panels, from 27 to 97 inches (all of its WOLED panels), have become the world’s first displays to receive Eyesafe Circadian Certification. LG Display’s OLED TV and monitor panels achieved the highest circadian certification rating (CPF 50).

EyeSafe, a US-based company specializing in blue light mitigation solutions, says that LG's OLED panels are promoting eye health and better sleep, as the emit just 36% blue light, the lowest in the industry.

OLED TVs offer excellent image quality, outperforming LCDs with superb contrast, excellent and vivid color reproduction and fast refresh rates. In addition, OLEDs enable thin and efficient TVs. OLED TV production has been increasing up until a year ago, reaching a potential capacity of around 10 million units. This is impressive, but considering the entire global TV market that amounts to around 250 million units, OLEDs represent only around 2.5% of the total market (it is important to note that OLEDs tend to be produced in large sizes and carry a much higher average selling price compared to LCDs).

But OLED TV production capacity growth has declined in recent years. In this article we will shortly detail the history of OLED TV production, and look at potential paths towards increased penetration in the future. More details and into the future of OLED technologies and OLED TVs is included in the OLED Toolbox.

A bit of history: in 2013, both Samsung and LGD started producing OLED TV panels. Samsung chose the straightforward RGB side-by-side architecture, in which there are three sub-pixels, with red, green and blue OLED emitters. LG chose its own WRGB (or WOLED) architecture (the IP was acquired from Kodak in 2009) which uses four white OLED subpixels (made from yellow and blue OLED subpixels). Both companies released 55" FHD OLED TVs, priced at over $10,000 per unit. It soon became clear that Samsung's approach was not scalable, while LGD managed to enter mass production quickly and reduce prices dramatically within a few years to compete with the dominant LCD TV technology.

LG Electronics is going to add screensaver ads to its TVs, including its high-end OLED TV range. It seemed the company has already started testing this new feature, which shows full-screen ads, and the company will offer a way to turn the ads off, as it markets the new ad system a "feature".

LG Ad Solutions company announced the new "Native Screensaver Ads" feature, that "capitalizes on idle screen time, turning what may be perceived as a period of downtime into a valuable engagement opportunity".

According to reports from Korea, three former senior researchers at LG Display are accused of passing OLED trade secrets to a Chinese panel maker. The Seoul District Prosecutor office says that the there researchers took photos of designs at LGD's Guangzhou factor in 2021 and 2022, related to large-area WOLED panel production processes.

One of the suspects started working for a large China-based display company in 2021, and he allegedly colluded with a former LG Display employee to steal large-scale OLED panel mass production technology.

According to DSCC, OLED panel shipments increased 50% in the second quarter of 2024, compared to the second quarter of 2023. Compared to the previous quarter, shipments increased 13%. 

DSCC says that OLED tablet shipments increased 356% in the quarter compared to last year (led by Apple's adoption of AMOLEDs in its iPad Pro devices). OLED smartphone spanel shipments also 49%, while OLED TV panel shipments increased 30% from 2023.

LG Display is showing its latest OLED displays at the K-Display 2024 trade show, in Seoul. You can see LG's large-area OLED TVs, gaming monitors, automotive OLEDs and more.

All of these displays have been shown before, but this video is still a nice demonstration of LGD's latest OLED technologies.

US retailer Value Electronics hosted their annual TV shootout® (now in its 20ths year), checking high-end calibrated TVs to see which model provides the best image quality. This year, Value Electronics tested six TVs, three of which were OLEDs, and three miniLEDs.

The three OLED TVs were the LG G4, Samsung S95D and Sony A95L. As in previous years, the top performing TV is a QD-OLED TV - specifically Sony's A95L. All of the three OLED TV models outperformed the miniLED TVs, as you can see by clicking on the image above.

Seoul's Kookmin University researchers concluded a clinical study to verify the impact of TV panels of sleep, measuring the levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin in 40 adult men and women divided into groups watching the same content on either LCD or LG's WOLED TVs.

The researcher found that melatonin secretion fell 2.7% over two hours for the LCD group and it increased 8.1% in the OLED TV group. Melatonin rises in the evening to prepare the body for sleep, but the blue light emitted from displays disturbs the melatonin secretion as it confuses the body. As LCDs emit about twice as much blue light as OLEDs, it is not a surprise they have this effect on melatonin levels.

According to Omdia, sales of OLED panels in sizes over 9-inch (the company refers to these as Large Area Displays) will increase 124.6% in 2024. In 2023, the market contracted 25.7%, with the only exception being OLED monitor panels that grew in shipments.

In 2024, Omdia says that all application areas will see an increase in shipments - TVs, monitors, tablets and laptops. Only the company's "other" category will see a decrease in sales. In particular, tablet OLED shipments are projected to increase by 294% compared to 2023, largely due to Apple's adoption of OLEDs in the 2024 iPad Pro tablets. Laptop OLED sales will increase 152.6%, and monitors OLEDs will increase 139.9%. Finally, OLED TV panel shipments will increase 34.8%.