According to Korean newspaper etnews both Samsung and LG have developed 55-inch OLED-TV prototype panels. They plan to exhibit them later in 2011 or early 2012 at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. The source also claims that Apple is interested in buying 55" OLED-TV panels.

55-inch OLED-TV prototypes
LG has already promised a 55” OLED-TV in 2012 and earlier this year FlatpanelsHD reported that Samsung is currently testing a 55" OLED TV as an experiment. Our sources seem to be precise because now a report claims that both Samsung and LG have successfully produced prototypes of 55” OLED-TV panels.

The OLED panel technology is a new kind of display technology with perfect response time, perfect viewing angles and perfect black reproduction. OLED can also be deposited on plastic substrates, making them flexible or rollable.


OLED panels can become thinner than 0.05 mm

The Korean newspaper etnews has cited sources in the industry. Etnews has a fairly good track record when it comes to these two Korean electronics makers, and further details have also been provided.


LG’s current 31” OLED-TV

According to the same source, both companies are satisfied with quality, power consumption and lifetime on their OLED prototypes. Samsung has developed the panel at a 5.5. generation plant (learn more here), optimized for medium-sized OLED panels (for smartphones and tablets). Samsung has used a method called Small Mask Scanning (SMS), which replaces the called Fine Metal Mask (FMM). LG, on the other hand, has created an OLED prototype using white OLEDs. Colors are then reproduced with the help of color filters in front of the small OLED sub pixels.


LG’s current 31” OLED-TV

Both Samsung and LG plan to build larger 8. generation OLED plants with greater capacity and the ability to manufacture much larger panels. Most large-size LCD/LED TVs are manufactured at 8G LCD plants today.

The sources also claims that Samsung SMD has presented the 55” OLED prototype to the Samsung Electronics chairman that was so convinced that he told the crew to accelerate development.

Apple shows interest
Apple has shown interest in OLED technology in the recent years and rumors have swirled that Apple wants to utilize OLED in iPhones and iPads. But the Korean sources claim to know that Apple is interested in securing the 55” OLED-TV panels for a future flat panel TV.

A flat panel TV from Apple is not a new rumors and OLED now seems to be a possible solution. We remind you that Apple has invested a large sum of dollars into LG’s OLED research. Apple also recently patented a touchscreen system for OLED displays and a method for creating 3D displays using transparent OLED panels. Some analytics claim to know that Apple has plans to release a HDTV as early as 2012.

You can learn more about OLED technology in our OLED section

Samsung and LG are expected to showcase their 55" OLED prototypes at the FPD 2011 exhibition in Japan in late October 2011, and presumably also at the CES 2012 show in Las Vegas in early January 2012. Both companies plan to start a small mass production in the middle of 2012, the sources claim.

- Source: etnews.co.kr