MicroLED is not the OLED killer that it was cracked up to be almost a decade ago, and two of the leading display makers, LG and Samsung, are now revisiting their investment plans.
MicroLED combines the best of LCD and OLED, without any of the downsides. This seemed to be prevailing idea when the first large-screen microLED TVs made an appearance in 2018.
It is not entirely true, as reported in FlatpanelsHD's first look at Samsung's 110-inch microLED TV, but the technology does nevertheless look very promising.
One of the key challenges remain making the microLEDs small enough for mass-producing high-resolution displays. It is a challenge that even LG and Samsung have been unable to solve, as evidenced by the price tag of their elusive microLED TVs that start at $100,000 or more.
LG and Samsung hit the brake
Reports from analysts and industry members suggest that it will take years still before the technology is ready for mass production.
As a consequence, LG and Samsung are reportedly now hitting the brakes on production, although Samsung seems willing to continue research into the technology.
Samsung's 110" microLED TV. Photo: FlatpanelsHD
- "According to reports from Korea and Taiwan, both Samsung Display and LG Display have decided to slow down their microLED business plans," MicroLED-info wrote in a summary of the reports.
- "Samsung Display will continue to invest in microLED R&D, but has delayed plans to expand production. LG Display has already reduced the size of its microLED R&D teams and is looking into deploying some of its microLED developers into the OLED side of its business."
Meanwhile, Korean newspaper ETNews is reporting that Samsung has held a workshop with partners advising them that production costs must be radically cut to one-tenth to make microLED TVs competitive.
Also read: TCL can produce TV panels even larger than 115"
Chinese and Taiwanese display makers are still focused on microLED but for now the Chinese-made microLED TVs are as expensive as the Korean-made ones.
- Source: MicroLED-info.com, Money Today Korea, ETNews
