Like Samsung, LG is exploring the concept of microLED displays assembled from modules. Its first commercially available product is "coming soon" but expect it to be out of reach.

Still early for microLED
LG recently installed its first LED cinema screen. The company's first commercial microLED display will be more advanced with a pixel pitch of 0.9 mm (compared to 3.3mm for the cinema version), allowing LG to build a 163-inch display with 4K resolution from smaller modules.

The key to making microLED a viable alternative to LCD and OLED in the living room is reduce the pixel pitch and bring down production costs. Or as LG's arch rival Samsung prefers to say: "The smaller its gets, the more vivid our future becomes". At CES 2020, Samsung announced plans to launch "home ready" microLED TVs in 2020 but it has not provided an update on its plans since.



As noted by microLED-Info, Konka has demonstrated a 118-inch version with 4K resolution. Samsung has teased a 75-inch version with 4K resolution.

Each module (LSAB009) from LG has a resolution of 640x360 pixels.


 Each module from LG has a resolution of 640x360 pixels. Photo: LG

LG says that its latest version delivers 1200 nits peak brightness, 600 nits typical brightness, and a 100,000:1 contrast ratio. That would suggest that the black level is lower than 0.01 nits. Like OLED, microLED is a self-emitting display technology that controls brightness and color on the pixel-level.

This will be LG's first commercially available microLED display. The company says that it is "coming soon" and sources tell MicroLED-Info and LEDinside.com that it will start shipping in August 2020. It is listed on LG's website without pricing details. You can 'inquire to buy' but expect it to be extremely expensive.

Analyst firm IHS Markit expects microLED displays to reach the mass market by 2026.

- Source: MicroLED-Info, LEDInside, LG