First OLED TVs Reach Consumer Market

January 14, 2013—Korean electronics firm LG Electronics launched the first commercially available organic LED TV at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in Las Vegas, Nev., U.S.A. last week. The 55” OLED screen TVs will go on sale initially for KRW 11 million (US$10,000). A higher price point is expected for the U.S. launch scheduled in March.

A long time in coming, OLED TV technology enables the elimination of a backlight, resulting in ultra-thin displays only 4 mm thick compared to conventional flat-screen thickness of approximately 15 mm. The weight of the set is thus reduced to only 10 kg (22 lb). The OLED technology also uses less power to produce brighter, higher-definition images compared to LCD and plasma displays.

Samsung also introduced a 55” OLED TV prototype at CES 2013, which has a slight convex curve to enhance depth and life-like viewing, but a commercial launch date has not been announced. Over the past decade, many manufacturers have featured passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) and active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays in mobile phones and other small devices, including Samsung, LG, Sony, Mitsubishi, Motorola and Nokia. But the LG OLED TV is the first large-screen TV to be available commercially.

Samsung OLED TVs use RGB subpixel technology in its displays, whereas LG OLED TVs use white subpixels with a color-filter architecture.