Samsung reportedly in talks with LG negotiating huge order of OLED TV panels
According to more than one Korean news outlet, Samsung is reportedly in talks with LG for a tall order of OLED TV panels. Samsung may be close to closing a deal where LG will supply Samsung with millions of these TV panels, further evidencing its shift away from LCD panels in its QLED TVs, which use a combination of a quantum dot filter and an LCD backlight.
According to reports, officials from both Samsung and LG met to discuss the OLED panels. Insiders quotes a couple of LG employees familiar with the details. “We have not signed a supply contract yet, but we only need to go through a working-level consultation to finalize the details,” said one of the officials. Another official claimed that these negotiations were not new, but never had they gone through with a deal.
According to reports, 1 million panels would be supplied to Samsung in H2 of this year, with that number rising to 4 million in 2022. It is noted that it’s not usual for Samsung to order panels from its biggest rival, but the event could be a result of Samsung’s recent decision to shift from using LCD technology in its QLED TVs and use OLED panels from LG instead. The recent rise in LCD panels due to the semi-conductor shortage is certainly a factor at play.
In the meantime, TheElec reported that Samsung is working on a prototype for a Quantum Dot OLED TV which doesn’t use LCD panels. These prototypes reportedly were rejected by Samsung Electronics back in January for their brightness being too low.
