In development for several years at Samsung Display, the new QD-OLED display technology could arrive on the market in the first half of 2022.
Will CES 2022 be an opportunity for Samsung to present a TV based on the new QD-OLED technology finally? The question comes as the Korea Economic Daily reports from sources close to the matter that the Korean giant has reportedly planned to launch an initial model in the first half of 2022.
What is QD-OLED already?
In development for several years at Samsung Display, QD-OLED screen technology aims to combine the best of quantum dot technology (quantum dot, used for QLED TVs) with the best of OLED. In other words, the QD-OLED should make it possible to add the high brightness and bright colors of QLED TVs to the infinite contrast offered by the OLED. An enticing technological proposal.
Note that QD-OLED prototypes had been unveiled on the sly by Samsung to a privileged few during private presentations organized on the sidelines of CES 2020. Previous rumors also suggested that Samsung had plans to launch the production of the first QD-OLED TVs in 2019. Some media even anticipated a start of commercialization somewhere in 2020. COVID may have disrupted Samsung’s plans, but in this context, an announcement at CES 2022 followed by a launch a few weeks or months later seems possible.
Opening a third way between QLED and MicroLED
For Samsung, the objective would be to open a third technological path between the QLED and the MicroLED while strengthening its positions on the high-end. “Samsung is strengthening its high-end strategy. Next year, it plans to unveil new QLED and QD-OLED TVs in the quantum dot category, as well as MicroLED TVs of various sizes,” said an industrialist quoted by the Korea Economic Daily. “When launched, QD-OLED TVs will be between [Samsung’s] high-end MicroLED TV segment and its flagship QLED ranges.”
Reading between the lines, however, we understand that the future technology for Samsung would remain the MicroLED, and not the QD-OLED, which should for its part serve as an intermediate and more mainstream technology.
According to the Korea IT News, the arrival of the first QD-OLED TV in 2022 would, in any case, be conditioned by an agreement recently reached between Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics. We finally learn that the first model QD-OLED could first be declined in 55 and 65 inches. 70-inch models would also be in the pipes, but for later.
