Samsung reportedly resumes work on true QNED displays

After halting the project 3-4 years ago, Samsung Display is once again developing true QNED, according to a report, alongside QD-OLED and EL-QD.

QNED, short for Quantum dot Nanorod Emitting Diode, was once seen as a promising new self-emissive display technology, in which inorganic blue LEDs are combined with quantum dots to produce red and green light.

We eventually saw "QNED" TVs launched by LG, but these are conventional LCD TVs, just like "QLED" TVs, which was the original term for future EL-QD displays, are also conventional LCD TVs. A true QNED display eliminates the LCD panel entirely. 


QNED development restarted
According to a report by Korean newspaper ETNews, Samsung Display restarted QNED development in late 2025. The project had been paused in mid-2022 after multiple years of research due to challenges in aligning LEDs and achieving uniform light and color.

QNED is similar to QD-OLED in that quantum dots convert blue light to red and green. The key difference is that QNED uses inorganic (nanorod) LEDs, whereas QD-OLED uses organic LEDs, i.e. OLED.

- "The team that previously worked on QNED has regrouped. Internally, there is a recognition that nanorod LED technology should be pursued as a long-term strategy, which prompted the restart of QNED," an unnamed industry expert told ETNews.


Cheaper than QD-OLED?
QNED could potentially be cheaper and simpler to produce than QD-OLED, as both the LEDs and quantum dots can be inkjet-printed onto the display panel. Each pixel apparently contains around ten LEDs.

Samsung Display is developing QNED alongside QD-OLED, which is already on the market, and EL-QD (NanoLED), which is a future display technology that not only removes the LCD panel but also eliminates the separate LEDs – quantum dots act as LEDs themselves. Samsung Electronics – the consumer electronics division – is working on microLED, where RGB LEDs are used without an LCD panel, though cost reduction remains a huge challenge.

 Also read: Nanosys: Brighter QD-OLEDs in 2026, NanoLED (QDEL) by 2029

In other words, Samsung is now actively developing four different self-emissive display technologies to eventually replace LCD, which has dominated TVs for more than two decades.

- Source: ETNews