Samsung, LG heat up for OLED war
LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom delivers an opening keynote address at the IFA technology fair in Berlin on Sept. 4. / Courtesy of LG Display
By Lee Min-hyung
Samsung Display and LG Display, top-tier display panel-makers, are expected to heat up competition over technology standards for organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, early next month.
Expectations are that Han Sang-beom, recently promoted to LG Display Vice Chairman, will continue to stress the importance of the company’s technology to develop large-sized OLEDs.
Han previously delivered an opening keynote address on the future of the OLED at the IFA tech fair on September.
On the other hand, Samsung Display, the market leader in small-sized OLEDs, is also preparing to expand its business portfolio into large-sized OLEDs. Because LG Display is leading the large-sized OLED market, expectations are that Samsung will also boost its drive for commercializing large-sized OLED products.
“Samsung Display is expected to commercialize large-sized OLEDs before long, as small-sized ones do not bring big profits,” a source said.
“In particular, selling large-sized panels of more than 55 inches is a lot more profitable than small ones used in handsets or laptops.”
The two display giants have been in a tug of war after LG Display commercialized large-sized OLED TVs for the first time. LG Display used its OLED technology standard WOLED, which added white to the existing RGB (red, green, blue) sub-pixels.
But this has sparked controversy between the two giants, as Samsung Display took issue with the WOLED standard, arguing that the WRGB-based OLED standard was not feasible.
Samsung Display clings to developing RGB-based large-sized OLED TVs, but they have yet to be commercialized. This is because producing large-sized OLEDs using RGB-based technology is much harder than doing so with the WOLED standard, according to an industry source.
But LG Display claimed that authoritative organizations had approved the WOLED standard
The LG Group display affiliate has since led the large-sized OLED TV market across the world, while Samsung focuses on developing small-sized OLEDs used in its new smart devices including Galaxy S6 Edge.
But LG Display also has the technology to produce small OLEDs.
“Samsung has technical expertise in producing small-sized OLEDs, but currently, it appears that the company may not be able to commercialize large-sized OLEDs by sticking to the RGB-based technology,” the source said.