We have previously talked about LG’s plans to market a 30-inch OLED in 2011 and 40-inch OLED in 2012. Now LG's CEO Young Soo Kwon has elaborated with more concrete information about LG's future OLED plans. Here’s a summary.
LG believes strongly in OLED
Just like Samsung, LG predicts a great future for the OLED technology. LG also previously revealed their plans to release a 30-inch OLED-TV in 2011 and a 40-inch OLED-TV in 2012.
Young Soo Kwon believes that it’s a difficult move to introduce OLED into a mature TV market, but LG’s goal is to be a leading player with this amazing technology.
LGs 31-inch OLED-TV
LG has already announced a 31-inch OLED-TV, to be released in 2011 (seen above), which also supports the previously announced plans. The TV won’t be cheap, however, and it can hardly be regarded as a actual large-scale deployment of OLED.
Young Soo Kwon continues and says that in order to release OLED-TVs at competitive prices, one would need to invest heavily in large production facilities. Currently LG is manufacturing their 15-inch OLED panel and OLED panels for handheld devices on a 4.5 G (4.5. generation) plant. LG is also currently building a 5.5 G factory that will increase capacity of both smaller and larger OLED panels. The 5.5G production will focus on OLED panels for handheld devices.
LGs 15” OLED-TV
More fun in 2013
In order to reduce production costs and sell OLED-TVs to the mass market, 8G (8. generation) production lines are required, Kwon says. Therefore LG plans to build a 8G factory over the coming years. The plans are not final, Kwon says, but he hopes that this plant will be ready for mass production in 2013. Samsung plans to pilot run a 8G OLED line soon.
We should probably also include that Apple has invested 800 million U.S. dollars in LG’s OLED company. Rumors says that Apple is planning on integrating OLED panels in their future iPods, iPads and iPhones for much better picture quality. The major issue at the moment is the supply of OLED panels but if Apple has invested a large portion of money in LG’s OLED business, it’s also plausible to assume that they are entitled to a large portion of the capacity when it's ready.
Samsung is also constructing a 5.5G OLED factory that will be ready in May 2011.
You can read our LG OLED-TV review here.
LG’s OLED plans for the coming years
