Brian Daniels, senior VP at Merck, says that Samsung is still committed to OLED panels – and will return to the OLED TV market by 2017.
Quoted in an interview with The Korea Times, Daniels talked about improvements in OLED materials, which will enable cost reductions, Through these, he said, OLED TVs will reach large production volumes within three years.
Additionally, Daniels discussed inkjet printing. Merck believes that this technology will eventually become more cost-effective than the current evaporation-based deposition methods. The company is currently working with LG on inkjet printing research, although Daniels denied the possibility of a joint venture.
Daniels added that Samsung is likely to produce its own OLED panels (through Samsung Display) when it re-enters the OLED TV market – rather than using units from rival LG Display.
Analyst Comment
Samsung has not been active in OLED TVs for more than a year, instead choosing to focus on UltraHD LCD sets (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 19). Although the company was showing prototypes at IFA 2014, they were missing from this year’s show. (TA)
