From Asia comes the news: Samsung is looking to sell its plants to produce Smart LED TVs, to focus on the production of premium OLED TVs
Big changes coming in the Smart TV market, perhaps as early as 2022: from Taipei, headquarters of the authoritative online newspaper DigiTimes, comes the news that Samsung is going to divest its production lines of LCD TV panels to focus on the production of OLED TVs only. At the moment, Samsung is one of the leaders in the production of Smart TVs made with both technologies.
If the news were to be confirmed, then, already next year Samsung could begin to focus only on the most expensive OLED TVs, leaving the cheaper LED-LCD to Eastern competitors. Competitors, however, among which there is still another very prestigious TV manufacturer: LG. The other Korean company, in fact, just like Samsung has both a range of LCD TVs and an OLED range (which it is preparing to renew in 2022, by the way). No specific details, however, on the fate of the production line of Samsung TVs with mini-LED technology (which, technically, is the top of LED technology).
Samsung Smart TVs: goodbye to LEDs?
According to DigiTimes, which in turn reports rumors gathered by Chosun, Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) has decided to exit the market for LCD TV panels and divest its production. The divested production lines will be replaced by other OLED 6G-type lines, capable of producing small and medium-sized screens.
SDC has already divested part of the LCD panel machinery from its L8-1 factory, replacing it with equipment to produce Quantum Dot OLED panels. Currently, production capacity at this factory would amount to about 1 million 55- and 65-inch Quantum Dot OLED TVs (the diagonals most requested by customers).
In addition, Samsung Display is reportedly negotiating the sale of its LCD production lines to China's BOE Technology and China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT). The latter is owned by TCL, one of the fastest-growing brands in the Smart TV market in the East, which is focusing on premium LED TVs.
What is not known at the moment, however, is whether the divestiture of production lines will take place in all Samsung plants, or only in the L8-1 factory. It is known, however, that Samsung had already announced the farewell to the LCD market in November 2020, with plans to sell the equipment by March 2021.
A year after that announcement, now it is back to talk about the exit of Samsung from the LCD market.
Samsung Smart TVs: all OLED
Also according to DigiTimes, finally, since there would be unused space within the factory L8-1 Samsung would already be working to add a new OLED production line. It is not known, however, if it will produce normal OLED panels, or OLED Quantum Dot.
In recent days Samsung Display has launched a new site called OLED ERA, a showcase for OLED displays produced by the company. On the site, in addition to showing future foldable OLED displays, Samsung praises OLED technology by comparing it to LCD (which it currently still produces, however).