Samsung Launching MicroLED TV For Very Upmarket Consumers Early 2021

December 11, 2020 by Dave Haynes

Various tech blogs are reporting that Samsung is planning to launch a 110-inch microLED TV for the consumer market early in the new year.

It’s not clear from reports whether the display will be a fixed-size version of The Wall, the company’s flagship product series for microLED, or something marketed as a different brand.

It does suggest Samsung, like many companies, sees a future for microLED, and not just for money-is-no-object private home installations in the United Arab Emirates.

The pitch with microLED is that the light chips are self-emissive, like OLED, individually addressable (controlled) and surrounded by a relative sea of black, so that contrast is really good. LED purists may argue Samsung’s (and LG’s) don’t necessarily meet the pure technical definition of microLED. Sony’s Crystal LED does actually meet the technical definition.

Based on a recent LED survey I did with industry experts, the general sense is no one really cares. A display that looks good or doesn’t, matters more than its micron measurements and marketing specs.

Samsung introduced 75-inch, 88-inch, 93-inch and 110-inch microLED TVs at CES in early 2020, pre-pandemic. But what shows at CES isn’t always what shows in the consumer or commercial market.

The model is also expected to retail at roughly $90,000 USD, and my best wishes in your pitch to your partner, saying you need this for work. The estimated rack rate for the screen is the same or less than a 98-inch Samsung QLED, though it is on sale right at $60,000.

The microLED price is a sign, perhaps, that some of the manufacturing issues that have made microLED so expensive in its early years are getting resolved. 

 

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