Will the 'LG and OLED Alliance' Take Shape at CES?... Spotlight on Samsung's Position

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The global electronics and display industry’s attention is focused on Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee, who attended the world’s largest IT and home appliance exhibition, 'CES2022.' Samsung Electronics’ ambitiously prepared Quantum Dot (QD) OLED TV will not be showcased to the public at CES2022, drawing attention to whether Vice Chairman Han, who has previously expressed a negative stance on OLED TVs, will choose to change course and directly mention strategic collaboration with LG. If Vice Chairman Han declares cooperation at this event, Samsung Electronics will re-enter the OLED TV business for the first time in eight years since suspending the business due to yield issues.

Samsung Electronics officially entered the OLED TV business in 2013 but withdrew after one year due to yield problems. When Vice Chairman Han was the head of the product development team at the Visual Display (VD) Business Division in May 2012, Samsung Electronics first introduced a 55-inch OLED TV product. However, as yield did not improve, the company launched QLED, which uses QD on LCD color filters, and has since focused on growing that business.

Subsequently, Vice Chairman Han publicly expressed a negative stance on OLED TVs. At a press conference held in New York in March 2018, he said, "OLED has many technical challenges to overcome due to burn-in issues," and "We are absolutely not considering OLED in the TV market." When attending CES2020 in January 2020 as head of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business Division, he also stated, "I can clearly say that Samsung Electronics will not make OLED TVs."

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee

However, as the OLED market rapidly grew, Samsung Electronics found itself in a situation where it could no longer ignore it. According to market research firm Omdia, OLED TV shipments are expected to reach 8 million units this year. OLED TVs are growing faster than LCDs and others in the overall TV market. Additionally, Samsung Display’s QD OLED TV, which began mass production in November last year, was expected to be unveiled at CES2022 but was postponed. Industry insiders believe this delay is to stabilize production lines and secure yields before public release due to limited QD OLED production volume.

Ultimately, the market anticipates that Samsung Electronics may resume its OLED TV business by selling QD OLED supplied by Samsung Display as high-end OLED TV models, while using LG Display’s OLED panels for entry-level OLED TV products.

Kim Dong-won, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "Considering the limited production capacity of Samsung’s QD OLED panels, LG Display is expected to continue large OLED transactions with Samsung Electronics for more than three years," adding, "Samsung Electronics appears to have already completed the development and product planning of OLED products using LG Display’s WOLED, and is expected to launch OLED TVs in North America and Europe in the first half of next year."

Meanwhile, LG Electronics and LG Display have been continuously expressing a "welcome" message regarding Samsung Electronics’ possible re-entry into the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV business. Although Samsung Electronics has not officially confirmed its entry, the market has already accepted the collaboration between Samsung Electronics and LG Display as a given. LG Electronics and LG Display believe that if Samsung Electronics, which holds the number one market share in the TV market, enters the OLED TV market, it will lay the foundation for expanding the market size and ecosystem.

On the 4th, at an event where LG Electronics unveiled its 2022 LG OLED TV lineup and TV business strategy for the year, Park Hyung-se, head of LG Electronics’ HE Business Division, said, "We have not heard any official news that Samsung Electronics will enter the OLED TV market," but added, "If they join, it would be a positive sign for the expansion of the OLED market and ecosystem, and we would welcome it." This is interpreted as showing strong confidence in OLED TV competition, having led the OLED TV market for the past decade.

Earlier, Oh Chang-ho, vice president and head of LG Display’s large business division, said regarding cooperation rumors with Samsung, "It is not yet at a stage where I can comment, and I cannot mention anything about customers," but expressed a welcoming stance on Samsung Display’s mass production of Quantum Dot (QD) OLED panels, saying, "We welcome the fact that a competitor is entering the OLED camp. After doing OLED alone for over 10 years, we now have a partner."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.