LG.Display has today announced that sales of OLED TV panels more than doubled in the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of 2017 as more and more TV manufacturers launch OLED TVs.

Output will double again in 2019
TVs based on OLED display technology still represent a fairly small part of the overall TV market that runs at 220+ million units per year. However, OLED TVs are quickly conquering the high-end segment and LG.Display is now preparing a move into the mid-range segment. 

LG.Display is the sole manufacturer of OLED TV panels in the world and is currently supplying OLED panels to LG, Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Loewe, and others. The company today announced that global sales of OLED TV panels more than doubled to 1.3 million in the first half of 2018 compared to 0.6 million units in the first half of 2017.

- “Many global TV brands have been selecting OLED technology, recognizing its differentiated value, and thus OLED TVs are leading the premium TV market,” said Yong-Kee Hwang, President and Head of TV, LG Display. “LG Display will pioneer the future TV market by continually developing differentiated products that exceed customer expectations and by responding to the sharply increasing demand for OLED TV through active investment in production capacity.”

LG.Display expects OLED TV panel sales to increase further to 2.9 million for the full year of 2018. The company expects to once again almost double output from the current 70,000 sheets (that are cut into smaller panels) per month at the 8.5G factory in Paju, Korea, to 130,000 sheets per month once the new 8.5G factory in Guangzhou, China, comes online in the latter half of 2019.

Looking even further ahead, the company said that it has “decided on using its 10.5G production facility currently under construction in Paju to manufacture OLED as well”. This factory will be more advanced and capable of producing larger OLED TV panels once it is finished.



OLED will bring “futuristic features”
Meanwhile, Samsung, TCL, and Hisense have formed an alliance to try and position “QLED TVs” as a direct competitor to OLED TVs. Current “QLED TVs” are not based on a new display technology but rather LCD TVs with a quantum dot film in the stack.

Analyst company IHS Markit estimates that sales of OLED TVs have surpassed those of QLED, despite lower production costs and Samsung’s attempt to enter then mid-range segment with 6 and 7 series Q models. The alliance also appears to be falling apart as Hisense is gearing up to launch its first OLED TV.

LG.Display used the opportunity to highlight that OLED not only delivers “unmatched picture quality”. It also enables new types of TVs such as the wallpaper TV and even “transparent, flexible and rollable displays” in the near future.

- ”As OLED doesn’t require a backlight unit, it is the perfect display technology to use when developing futuristic features such as transparent, flexible and rollable displays.”