QD-OLED

A report from Korea suggests that Samsung Display has decided to resume its QD Nanorod Diode (QNED) technology development, that it has paused a few years ago, following a technology breakthrough related to the QD nanorod arrangement and placement technology.

Samsung's QNED technology is based on blue emitting nanorods (somewhat similar to microLEDs), coated with QDs for color conversion. Samsung's nanorod and QD deposition are both based on inkjet printing. The company originally hoped to achieve pilot production in 2021, but it faced several technical challenges, and eventually decided to abandon R&D - until this resumed last year.

Omdia says that Samsung Electronics sold around 2 million OLED TVs in 2025, up 38.1% from 2024. This is a record year for Samsung Electronics in the OLED TV market. Omdia says that Samsung's anti-glare technology is popular with consumers, in addition to the strong gaming performance of Samsung's OLED TVs.

Omdia estimates that the total OLED TV market grew 6% in 2025, and reached 6.43 million units. This means that Samsung's market share is 31%, and is the world's second OLED TV producer after LG Electronics. Sony is the third largest producer, with sales of 560,000 TVs in 2025 (down 15.5% from 2024).

Samsung Display announced a new QD-OLED brand, for its latest five-layer fourth-gen QD-OLED panel technology, called "QD-OLED Penta Tandem". The Penta part refers to the five layer stacked OLED architecture. All QD-OLED panels have always used a stacked architecture, but as tandem OLEDs become more popular, Samsung adds the tandem word to its QD-OLED panel branding.

Samsung says that the new five-layer design increases the energy efficiency, brightness and lifetime of its QD-OLED panels. This enables higher-resolution monitors, and Samsung has managed to produce a 27" 4K (160 PPI) panel with this new technology (which it says is the world's first OLED panel to achieve that), and also a 31.5" 4K panel, certified DisplayHDR True Black 500. 

Omdia says that the rate of equipment depreciation at display fabs is accelerating, which means that production costs of OLED and LCD panels alike is on the decrease, enabling display makers to increase their profits.

Omdia says that depreciation will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% between 2021 and 2028, for LCD and OLED fab combined (see chart above), with the amount of fully depreciated global FPD manufacturing capacity nearly doubling over that period from approximately 160 million square meters to almost 300 million. This is the result of the slowness in FPD production fabs investment in recent years.

Samsung Display Corporation stands today as the world's dominant OLED panel manufacturer, commanding approximately 40% of global OLED revenue and producing around 500 million AMOLED panels annually.  SDC’s OLED business is as profitable as the entire display industry together, if not more. This remarkable position represents the culmination of more than two decades of strategic investments, technological innovation, and calculated risks that began when OLED technology was still in its infancy.

Indeed, Samsung was the first company to fully commit to AMOLED production, and invested heavily in early R&D and took a leap of faith that was needed as the technology was not fully ready for mass adoption.

In this article, we detail Samsung Display's history, AMOLED and QD-OLED capabilities and fabs, its technology roadmap, opportunities and challenges, and its OLED microdisplays and microLED projects.

Samsung has announced its range of OLED TVs for 2026, utilizing both WOLED and QD-OLED panels. The company will release 4 different ranges, with sizes ranging from 42-inch to 83-inch. Samsung did not disclose many details about the TVs yet.

At the top of the line sits the S99H, Samsung flagship 2026 OLED TV. Available in sizes 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inches, the 4K 165Hz TVs are based on Samsung's latest QD-OLED panels (except the 83-inch model, which uses LG's a WOLED panel). Interestingly, the TVs have a metal bezel and sports Samsung's Wireless One Connect box.

Samsung Display is showcasing its latest OLED displays at CES 2026. The company is launching 4,500 nits QD-OLEDs (more on this below), but beyond that, it doesn't seem as if the company is unveiling any new technologies or architectures, it is focused on showing new use cases for its OLEDs.

Samsung Display's main theme this year is OLED innovations for the AI Era, and it is also emphasizing automotive and AR/VR applications. The company says that as OLEDs are increasing in OLEDs and functionality, the display panels are the best solutions for future AI, AR and automotive applications.