LG Display fires salvo at Samsung

LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo

Kwon says he is readjusting focus of OLED business

By Kim Yoo-chul

LG Display says it plans to break rival Samsung Electronics’ hold on advanced displays in their stiff competition for supremacy in 3D televisions.

LG said it has no intention of follow Samsung into developing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for smaller portable devices.

``Samsung is misleading the market because OLED displays are not suitable in terms of picture quality, response time, energy consumption and contrast ratios for smartphones and tablets,’’ said Kwon Young-soo, chief executive of LG Display in a meeting with reporters, late Thursday.

Kwon said LG will put more focus on investing in OLED displays for large-sized TVs as it believes the technology could offer a better response time in these.

``LG Display may release a 55-inch OLED TV set sometime in the latter half of next year,’’ he added.

He said more smartphone manufacturers will release new models employing LG’s ``Retina Display’’ that has been used in iPhones and iPads.

Kwon’s remarks come following talks with Apple to supply picture quality-enhanced Retina Displays for the upcoming iPad 3.

Samsung is heavily pushing its OLED technology for mobile devices. Its Galaxy S has an OLED screen and it is also considering releasing OLED-embedded notebooks and laptops this year.

OLED displays offer more vivid picture images and have the advantage of not needing a backlight to function, making it possible to realize thinner and lighter models.

Although OLED panels are capable of displaying deeper black levels and naturally achieve high contrast ratios, the displays are expensive and easily contaminated as they use organic materials.

``It’s true OLED is a next-generation display technology, but it might not be the alternative in small-sized digital devices,’’ said Kwon.

LG reported its third consecutive quarterly loss but declined to provide an outlook for the future, citing mounting economic uncertainty.

``TV demand will definitely improve as we move into the August and September period because TV makers prepare for holiday sales in China and elsewhere but how strongly demand will pick up is open to question,’’ the CEO said.

By reiterating his optimism for the TV market in the upcoming quarters, Kwon said LG’s in-house FPR 3D tech could be top in terms of global market share by the end of this year as it’s set to launch aggressive promotions in Europe and North America.

``We will cut the cost of FPR 3D televisions for market expansion. We have been in talks with many TV makers to provide our 3D technology, though it is too early to give more details,’’ stressed Kwon.

Demand for large-sized displays including TV screens and computer monitors, which together account for around 70 percent of LG’s revenue, is also taking a hit as consumers opt for smaller smartphones and tablets.