Last week we picked up a small mention of a story in the Korean language Digital Times on the heels of Samsung Electronics launch of Korea’s first 20.1-inch LCD monitor using an LED-BLU (backlight unit), the company also announced it would switch to LED illumination for all LCD monitors by 2008.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
Projection Monthly

While the major focus of the news story was on the speeds and feeds of the new LED backlit SyncMaster XL20 monitor (see table), it’s the side story that caught our interest as it portends a big impact on the direction of display illumination not just for LCD monitors, but the whole range of LCD panel applications.

Samsung is aggressively using LED technology in other mainstream CE products. Last month, the company released a 40-inch LCD TV, which features a 146% color gamut and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio and in September showed a pair (46- and 55-inch) slim MDTVs. In our current issue of Projection Monthly, we reported

Samsung rolling the LED illumination technology out across its line of MDTVs in 2007 (see Projection Monthly 11-06 p. 26).

This is clearly a quality play for Samsung as the company sees LED as the future of display illumination. LED BLU’s can be used to differentiate Samsung in the overcrowded flat panel monitor category-and beyond, but is starting with high-end monitors, using consistent color quality and the extended color gamut to capture the lucrative professional market. Case in point, the company includes X-rite’s LED-exclusive ‘Huey Calibrator’ and Samsung Electronics’ proprietary ‘Natural Color Expert’ to maintain the color quality throughout the life of the monitor. It is however, rather pricy at $1800 MSRP.

Samsung hopes to leverage LED benefits, first into niche markets that will pay the price premium over conventional CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) illumination. The 2008 benchmark for total LED adoption in monitors is also a safe bet as the company moves toward the higher-end in monitor supply.

In the meantime, the company is building LED BLU expertise, supply chain system links, and solidifying business relationships in the new illumination space. From this and the resulting economies of scale Samsung can migrate the technology across its product spectrum, from small handhelds up through large TVs in both flat panel and MD based systems. By getting in relatively early they establish themselves (like NEC) as industry leaders gaining the marketing savvy and technology benefits that only early adoption can bring -SS

Note: see an expanded version of this story in this month’s Mobile Display Report from Insight Media