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The best hope yet for a future price drop in OLED TVs has just arrived, promising a price battle. Chinese display manufacturer BOE has announced it will release panels for the home market, starting with a 95-inch 8K OLED TV with a 120Hz refresh rate… but a new report says the manufacturing giant is preparing a total of five OLED TV panels from 55 inches to 95 inches.
According to the Korean newspaper Biz Chosun (via FlatpanelsHD (opens in new tab)), BOE’s new OLED offering is expected to enter production soon, with expected delivery of around 300,000 units this year — a figure equivalent to more than 5% of the current OLED TV panel market.
BOE currently produces small- and medium-sized OLED displays and is said to be lining up to provide displays that leverage the technology for Apple’s next wave of iPads and MacBooks.
In fact, until now, the production of OLED panels for TVs has been dominated solely by LG Display, which sells its panels to numerous major companies, including Sony, Vizio and Panasonic (as well as LG Electronics, which makes the finished TV sets such as the LG C2).
LG Display’s Korean rival Samsung Display has just started producing its own OLED TV variant called QD-OLED, but this technology is so advanced that it does nothing to bring down the prices of regular OLED TVs.
Emerging Chinese manufacturers producing LCD panels at much lower production costs have forced LG Display and Samsung Display to focus on the production of high-end OLED panels of late, with the latter brand expected to start producing its LCD panels later this year. month will cease. (This won’t affect Samsung’s TVs, which will still be mostly LCD – these panels just won’t be made by Samsung itself.)
The emergence of a new entrant to the OLED panel market would likely spark a similar price war that could see more budget TVs with the tech hit the shelves as LG and BOE compete for the business of companies as big as Sony.
Analysis: A new OLED player could mean welcome changes for TV buyers
For the better part of a decade, LG Display has been the only game in town when it comes to OLED panel production.
In that time, the Korean company has made huge strides in improving picture quality and lowering the asking price for TVs with the technology, making large OLED TVs a true mass-market device.
The emergence of a real competitor in the manufacturing sector – especially one likely to undercut LG on price if it wants to force its way into LG’s business – is likely to drive down demanded prices for panels, which could mean lower prices for consumers. It will also likely encourage further OLED improvements as competition between the two companies’ offerings increases.
As a component supplier to Apple, BOE has extensive experience in manufacturing components on a large scale.
The big question is whether it can provide the same kind of image quality and production yield that LG has achieved – OLED panels are notoriously difficult to produce efficiently. Let’s hope so, because a price war is the best thing that could happen to movie buffs who are pressed for money and grappling with a rising cost of living elsewhere.
