Innovation is often thought of as an immediate breakthrough, but in many cases, groundbreaking developments are actually the culmination of years of work. But innovation is worth waiting for. It can truly change the customer experience, forever - sometimes even inspire the competition. That goes for every product from cars, financial products, smartphones and televisions.
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When it comes to innovation, patience and perseverance pay off. In LGs experience, this has certainly been the case with its television technology - and its OLED panels in particular - where the company has become the market leader.
OLED, in case youre wondering, stands for organic light-emitting diode. In simple terms, this means that every single pixel that makes up the picture illuminates. When the television is switched on, millions of thin, flexible and incredibly small diodes light up to create a viewing experience like no other.
This technology, which LG has been refining for years, delivers an altogether superior picture than LED and LCD displays. With striking contrast that shows perfect blacks, realistic colors and the potential for flexibility and thinness beyond imagination, LG's OLED TV is an example of persistent innovation at its finest.
While LG Display isnt the only manufacturer out there making OLED panels, its pretty much the only one that counts when it comes to the size and quality of OLED panels required for todays TV sets. Reports have recently emerged from multiple sources, though, suggesting that another display manufacturer, BoE, is preparing to start making OLED panels big enough for TV use too.
China-based BoE has been making vast quantities of small OLED displays since , predominantly for the mobile market. It surprised visitors to Mays Display Week Show in San Jose, though, by showing off an OLED display that was about as far from mobile -sized as its possible to get: a 95-inch screen with a native 8K resolution.
I should say right away that this screen was positioned at Display Week as a prototype. BoE was not saying that the screen was something TV brands could get their hands on right away. Still, the screens presence at Display Week surely has to be seen as some sign of intent. Not to mention proof that its various OLED manufacturing lines actually have the capacity to put something so big and high-end together.
The well connected people at market research company Display Supply Chain Consultants confirmed on the back of the Display Week showing that BoE really does seem intent on making such large panels on a commercial basis. Assuming that their information is correct (it usually is), it doesnt require much of a mental leap to think that such a move would spell good news for OLED-loving consumers. After all, more panel suppliers means more competition, which usually in turn means cheaper prices and more innovation.
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Before we, and our wallets, start getting too excited at the thought of a new generation of cut-price OLED TVs, though, its worth looking a bit more closely at BoEs situation.
For starters, dont forget that BoEs 95-inch OLED prototype really was a very high-end affair. Its combination of a huge screen and native 8K rather than 4K resolution was joined by a native 120Hz refresh rate, coverage of around 99% of the DCI-P3 colour range, and pretty high peak brightness of 800 nits the sort of specifications that consumers can currently expect to spend tens of thousands of pounds to secure. LGs latest mere 88-inch native 8K OLED model, for instance, the OLED88Z2, costs a cool £25,000 / $25,000 / AU$60,000 at the time of writing. Even if BoE manages to deliver a king-sized OLED panel cheaply enough to enable TV brands to sell huge OLED TVs for much less than that, its safe to say they will still hardly be mainstream propositions.
(Image credit: LG)
But maybe BoE was just showing off what it can do with its 95-inch prototype. Maybe it could also use the production line that put together this 8K behemoth to make affordable 65- and 55-inch 4K models, too?
As OLED-info reports, though, the B5 R&D Line in China that BoE is apparently eyeing up for production of its TV-sized panels currently has a very low capacity by todays panel production standards. Its certainly not capable of producing anything like the quantities of big-screen OLED panels that a number of LG Display lines can. In fact, its apparent production capacity for large OLEDs appears to be so limited that analysts suspect that BoE likely isnt even contemplating trying to use it to produce screens for the mass market, focusing instead purely on the high-end niche.
While such a move by BoE might prick up the ears of anyone reading this article from their super yacht, unfortunately it would be unlikely to move the dial much when it comes to the sort of OLED TVs the vast majority of AV fans buy.
Actually, if some of the chatter surrounding the Display Week show is to be believed, BoE might even struggle to move the premium OLED TV dial, at least in the short term, since while the 95-inch RGBW panel BoE showed apparently impressed in some ways, its overall quality supposedly didnt feel as if it was yet sufficient for a full real-world roll out. Though I should add that I havent found anyone sharing specific examples of the sort of issues the BoE panel allegedly suffered with.
It does appear, on the upside, as if the yield rates of usable panels at BoEs B5 production line are pretty high, at least. The simple reality, though, is that once you delve even a little behind the eye-catching major new manufacturer eyes big-screen OLED production headlines, the prospect of a pitched new battle between two makers of TV-sized OLED panels and the hammering of OLED TV prices that might follow doesnt look set to become a reality any time soon.
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