Samsung Electronics applied for a QLED TV trademark in the US - the trademark specifically is Samsung QLED. In the application document, Samsung said QLED technology will be applied not only to TVs - but also to mobile phone displays, monitors - and other devices.
Samsung is already shipping quantum-dots enhanced LCD TVs, but a QLED display means that the quantum-dots are used as emissive materials - there's no need for a backlight or filter layers. These kinds of displays will be very similar to OLEDs.
It seems that a possible strategy for Samsung is to stop developing OLED TVs, continue with QD-enhanced LCDs for the meantime and then hopefully be ready with QLED TVs in a few years.
This can prove to be a risky gamble as QLED technology is still in very early stages (even though Samsung is reportedly achieving rapid advances at its SAIT research center). Especially as LG Display is pushing OLED TVs quickly and its clear that OLEDs provide the best image quality of all TVs on the market.
According to Kateeva, Samsung is planning to re-enter the OLED TV market using its ink-jet printing equipment. The most likely scenario is for Samsung to advance on all three fronts: high-end LCDs, OLED TVs and QLED-TVs. The fact that it applied for a trademark does not mean it is abandoning all other technologies.
Comments
And what makes you think that?
Given that Samsung before advertised regular LED-backlit LCD TVs as misleading “LED TV — a new type of TV” (at least in Russia), it’s quite probable that QLED is actually just a rebranding of QD-enhanced LCD displays.
By the way, the QLED abbreviation looks very similar to OLED, and this similarity can potentially lead to consumer’s confusion (I even first wrongly read QLED as OLED in the title of this article).
I can see that this is a direct competition to Sony's crystal led.
Samsung won't use self-emmisive QLEDs, these are not ready yet. They just move quantum dots from backlight to top of the pixel, replacing color filters with quantum dots. This way they achieve high brightness (required for better HDR), better colors (color firters are't perfect and degrade colors), and very wide viewing angles (better than IPS, the same as OLED).