Samsung Electronics America last week announced its answer to LG Electronics’ rollout the month before of an OLED HDTV, the Samsung Model KN55S9C, its first curved-screen OLED with a reported price tag of $8999.
Three weeks prior to the Samsung announcement, LG Electronics unveiled its Model 55EA9800 curved-screen HDTV at a special event held in the Magnolia Design Center at the Best Buy in Richfield, MN. The new LG Electronics OLED HDTV is priced at $14,999 and will be available at other Magnolia stores inside Best Buys in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and San Antonio, TX.
LG began selling a flat-screen OLED model in Korea in January, and first rolled out its curved-screen set in Korea in April.
OLED display technology promises a number of benefits, including lighter weight, greater power efficiency, flexible view surfaces and faster response times than standard LCD display technology. Eventually, it is thought that OLED displays also will offer a cost advantage over standard LCD or plasma screens as manufacturers leverage less expensive fabrication techniques. However, consumers aren’t likely to see those cost savings until manufacturers begin mass production of OLED displays and can take advantage of economies of scale.
The new LG Electronics OLED display is .17in wide at the edge of the screen and weighs less than 38lbs. The company has employed a four-color pixel system, RGB plus a white subpixel. According to LG Electronics, the WRGB color system creates truer colors.
The new Samsung curved OLED HDTV makes use of self-emitting RGB subpixels laid directly on the color display panel, which eliminates the need for a color filter. Because the display requires no backlighting, the Samsung curved OLED television displays images with an absolute black, extending the contrast ratio into uncharted territory, the company said.
