Samsung to Cease Traditional LCD Production, Move To Quantum Dot OLEDs
by Anton Shilov on March 31, 2020 7:30 PM EST
According to a report from Reuters, Samsung Display will cease production of traditional LCD displays by the end of the year. The move comes as the company is apparently turning its full efforts away from traditional liquid crystal displays and towards the company's portfolio of quantum dot technology. Building off of the Reuters report, ZDNet is reporting that Samsung is dropping LCD production entirely – including its quantum dot-enhanced "QLED" LCDs – and that their retooled efforts will focus on QD-enhanced OLED displays. A decision with big ramifications for the traditional LCD market, this means that by the end of the year, the LCD market will be losing one of its bigger (and best-known) manufacturers.
As recently as last year, Samsung Display had two LCD production facilities in South Korea and another two LCD plants in China. Back in October, 2019, the company halted production one of the South Korean factories, and now plans to suspend production of LCDs at the remaining three facilities due to the low profitability and oversupply of traditional LCDs.
Instead, the company will be turning its attention towards the quantum dot-enhanced OLED displays. A new technology for Samsung, this would be distinct from the company's current QLED displays, which use quantum dots to enhance LCD displays. Samsung previously announced their plans to invest a whopping $11 billion in QD-OLED production, and now those plans are moving one step closer to completion as the company gets ready to wind-down traditional LCD production.
To that end, one of the two South Korean LCD lines will be converted to produce displays and TVs featuring quantum dot-enhanced OLED panels. Samsung Display hopes that their sizable investment will pay off as the new technology promises unprecedented image quality and lower cost compared to regular OLED panels. Meanwhile, Samsung’s longer-term plans include building of two QD-OLED lines, though it's unclear for now whether this will include any of the company's Chinese facilities, or what may happen to those lines once they shut down at the end of the year.
Overall, Samsung is not the first nor the only LCD panel manufacturer to reduce their production. LG Display has converted as least one of its LCD factories to an OLED facility, whereas Panasonic last year decided to cease LCD manufacturing by 2021.
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FreckledTrout - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link
Every subpixel in an LG OLED is "white," then a color filter on top to make RGB. They also have a non-filtered sub pixel that is white to make these WRGB sandwich which they added later to increase brightness. For the first few years LG's OLEDs used a blue/yellow sandwich. The first generation OLED's did have issues with uniform aging but not since.https://www.cnet.com/news/phone-oled-vs-tv-oled-wh...
Xex360 - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
Good news, finally a big player is moving away from the rather disappointing LCD technology, which couldn't even decades match CRT quality.Hulk - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
Viewing is somewhat subjective. For me the best LCD technology was more enjoyable to view than the best CRT probably 5-8 years ago.EliteRetard - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8BVTHxc4LMAnybody who still uses a good CRT and can compare it to even a top tier LCD will see how superior CRTs are. Unfortunately I had to give up my perfectly good CRT last year. I very strongly wish I could have kept it, but being incredibly poor sometimes forces you to make painful choices.
Samus - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link
Sounds like someone lost an FW900.FunBunny2 - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
"couldn't even decades match CRT quality."yeah, but you don't need the Brooklyn Bridge to hold up the LCD tube.
ZipSpeed - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
Indeed. With that said, I wouldn't say CRT > LCD quality. The caveat is that to get any decent PQ with LCDs, you have to dole out more money than what the average consumer would spend. Basically any displays that have FALD. I was using a 1080p plasma since 2010, and only recently jumped on the 4K bandwagon, and I must say, I have been very happy with my Sony 900F. A minor complaint would be crappier viewing angles because of the VA panel. Don't get me wrong, I would love to own an OLED, but they cost more than what my budget would allow when I was shopping.willis936 - Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - link
The real thing you lost is black level. Emissive displays like CRT and plasma have immensely better contrast than LCD. In dark scenes, when viewed in dark environments, OLED is beautiful.Kakti - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link
I'm still rocking my 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma and probably will for another year or so. I'd like to see how Samsung's QD-OLED compares to the next generation of LG panels next year.LG didn't change their panels this year, however just about every other aspect was improved (processor is Gen 3, industry standard variable refresh rate (VRR) as well as NV specific G-Sync support, Auto-Low Latency Mode (ALLM), HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ HDR and HDMI 2.1).
I think this is three years in a row with the same panel, so I would assume next year will have an updated version. Either way I feel like I have to hold off for a bit longer to see what the competition offers. On the other hand prices have plummeted in the past few years - you can pick up a just released 55" CX series for $2,000!
Steinegal - Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - link
I also made the jump from a plasma to a Samsung LCD last year, as I have a bright living room the extra brightness is great and going from 50" to 75" is great. Still in a dark room the Kuro with a reset and recalibration is much better in terms of image quality.