Here’s what you need to know about Samsung’s OLED TV comeback

Luca Fontana

16.3.2022

Translation: Veronica Bielawski

Samsung is aiming for a big OLED comeback with its new QD OLED technology. But the company is keeping strangely quiet about it. So, here are the most important questions and answers.

Samsung’s version of OLED sounds very promising. In fact, LG Display could even lose its monopoly on the manufacturing of this superior screen technology. Unlike LG, Samsung combines OLEDs with nanoparticles known as quantum dots, which have so far only been used in LCD televisions.

Let’s clear up the most important questions.

First things first: why is OLED all the rage?

See a previous article of mine for more on that topic:

Nevertheless, the industry consensus is that, as of today, OLED TVs produce the best picture money can buy. As CNET expert David Katzmaier explains, OLEDs are superior to LCDs. Although OLED TVs are available from many manufacturers, the panels are built by one brand only: LG.

What makes LG the monopolist of OLED TVs?

Samsung and LG have been battling to be top dog for years now. Who has the better TV picture technology? LG Display is a subsidiary of LG that has quite the monopoly on OLED panels for TVs. Unlike the competition, LG Display found a way to improve the brightness of screens years ago without significantly increasing the risk of burn-in. How?

Well, every TV consists of millions of pixels arranged in a grid. Each individual pixel contains three tiny subpixels:

1. a red one
2. a blue one
3. a green one

What LG Display did is add an additional white subpixel to the RGB grid. This white pixel’s only function is to provide more brightness through its light. This significantly reduces the energy load per subpixel – and with it the risk of burn-in. This technology is known as WOLED.

But that’s about to change.

Why is Samsung’s return to OLED so remarkable?

Samsung has tried its hand at OLED panels before. But in 2014, after a series of failed prototypes, it announced its withdrawal from the OLED TV business.

Outside of Samsung’s circles, this assessment was hardly met with agreement – with the exception of QLED partner TCL. It was not uncommon for experts to speculate that Samsung secretly regretted its departure from OLED, even though Samsung remains the largest manufacturer of TVs in the world.

TV market share measured in terms of shipments

It appears that said technological improvements have now been made. It’s no exaggeration to consider Samsung’s appearance at the most recent CES historic: Samsung presented its own, new and marketable version of OLED. It doesn’t yet have an official name. However, the term used by experts is Quantum Dot OLED, or QD-OLED for short.

How is Samsung’s QD-OLED different from LG’s OLED?

LG introduced the white subpixels to create an even brighter image without risking more burn-in. Samsung, on the other hand, relies on nanoparticles – the very ones that it already uses to ensure particularly pure light in its LCD televisions. This is what makes nanoparticle TVs better than regular LCD TVs. And now, Samsung aims to apply the same principle to OLED TVs.

It’s a very small change in the architecture of an OLED pixel – with a potentially huge impact.

Is Samsung’s QD-OLED better than LG’s OLED?

In theory, Yes. Samsung wants to combine the best of both worlds in its QD-OLED panels. Here’s what this means:

1. Perfect black levels thanks to OLED technology.
2. A bright picture as seen on LCD TVs.
3. No burn-in.
4. Even purer colours thanks to nanoparticles aka quantum dots.

Here’s a graphical representation of how this works:

Here’s the problem: filtering like this reduces the luminance of each colour, resulting in lower brightness. That’s why LG adds an additional white subpixel. It increases image brightness – but also washes out the other colours. Mind you, the resulting OLED colours are by no means bad. On the contrary, they’re great. But they don’t exploit their full potential. I’ve explained the physics behind this in more detail in a previous article:

Samsung’s nanoparticles, on the other hand, don’t rely on filters. Instead, they recolour the bluish OLED light. This is crucial; with QD-OLED pixels, colours don’t lose luminance – or brightness. This allows them to exploit significantly more of their potential. Here’s what this means:

1. QD-OLED pixels shine brighter than WOLED pixels because they don’t lose luminance.
2. So, QD-OLED pixels don’t require the additional white subpixel that’s responsible for the washing-out effect.
3. The result: with equal energy input, QD-OLED pixels produce a brighter image with more vivid colours.

As mentioned above, more energy equals more heat and that, in turn, equals a higher risk of burn-in. Samsung’s new architecture avoids this issue – at least in theory.

Have there been any hands-on tests yet?

Yes. Linus Tech Tips, for one, has tested it. Linus appears to confirm the theory in his test – though his reports should be taken with a grain of salt for the time being, as he was invited over for testing by Samsung, and his video was sponsored by Samsung.

However, Linus is considered a reputable expert. His opinion matters. Linus also states that Samsung has never had an external tester try out new technology in advance, and certainly not with external source material and devices that belong to the tester, not Samsung. If this is true, it’s another testament to Samsung’s great confidence in its own technology.

Whatever the case, the numbers Linus presents in his video are impressive. Let’s start with the brightness. We’re comparing LG’s Evo OLED panel and Samsung’s Neo QLED panel from last year. I got the numbers from rtings.com. The columns stand for the portion of the display measured, i.e. 2%, 50% and 100% of the display.

QD-OLED far outperforms the other technologies – downright crushes them. At this point, it seems that no long-term tests are needed to predict that QD-OLED is set to produce the best picture in the next few years.

Is LG’s supremacy in OLED threatening to end?

Yes. but not in the immediate future. LG Display’s current monopoly position is too strong for that. After all, LG Display is the only manufacturer of OLED panels for TVs. What’s more, Samsung will not, in fact, be the first to launch the QD-OLED TV, but Sony.

Wait, what?

Samsung does also plan to launch its own first QD-OLED TV this year. Upon request, Samsung Schweiz (Switzerland) wasn’t able to say when exactly this would be.

According to well-informed industry insiders, the reason for the delayed launch could be internal squabbles between Samsung and Samsung Display. Could be, mind you; that hasn’t been confirmed.

Just at what speed Samsung Display’s factories will operate for QD-OLED depends on market demand. Demand, in turn, depends on the price of the TVs, which remains unknown as of right now. Not even Sony has released any numbers. For all these reasons, it’s unlikely that QD-OLED will cause major changes in the TV market in the short term.

Should I put off buying an OLED TV in favour of a QD-OLED?

No. Industry experts, including Caleb Denison of Digital Trends, predict that the first QD-OLED TVs will remain far too expensive for the average consumer over the next few years. This is consistent with what I’ve heard so far from well-informed sources; the retail price for a 65-inch model is expected to be around 4,500 to 5,000 francs. Give or take a few.

LG Display, on the other hand, has established WOLED’s position on the market over the past few years; the technology is more mature, more efficient and cheaper to manufacture than ever before. More and more people can afford the once uber-expensive OLED TVs. In addition, the fact that OLEDs produce a better picture than anything prior to QD-OLED still holds true.

This outlook is further supported by the following statement from Sony:

This leaves LG Display the time to respond with its own version of QD-OLED. And it’ll have to do so. LG is bound to resist buying panels from its archrival, just as Samsung has resisted buying from LG Display all these years. This is to the benefit of us consumers. Competition not only stimulates business, but also lowers prices.

LG Schweiz declined the editorial team's request for comment on QD-OLED.

Update March 18, 1:55 pm:

Heise Online claims to have discovered glaring weaknesses in Samsung's QD OLED. What's the issue?

Thanks to the comment column for the hint!

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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