QD OLED Is The Latest Display Acronym You’ll Be Reading About … Here’s Why You Should Care …

January 6, 2022 by Dave Haynes

If you were already mightily confused by all the different terms being used to describe display technology, you’ll be giddy to learn there’s another one now – QD-OLED.

The good news with this one, at least, is the term directly ties to what it is. Unlike LED TVs that are actually LCDs, and QLEDs that aren’t LEDs either.

In this case, it is an OLED display that adds a Quantum Dot layer – hence the QD in front of OLED.

Both Samsung (image below) and Sony (main image at top) unveiled QD OLED product at CES this week that they plan to have available in 2022. These are TVs, but history strongly suggests there will be commercial display versions – especially since these are premium displays – in technology and price.

Samsung QD OLED

The reason QD OLED is interesting is that the technology helps address one of the primary challenges of conventional OLEDs – brightness. While LCD displays use an LED backlight to drive the brightness and therefore the range of color and shades, OLED displays are self-emissive (the pixels are all lights), and they’re not as bright.

Samsung first came up with Quantum Dots as a layer atop LCDs, and called them QLEDs. They deliver visuals the company has suggested compete favorably with OLED, but are brighter and don’t have any tangible issues with things like burn-in (something that’s been a worry with OLED). Now, by adding Quantum Dots as a layer to an OLED display, the visuals really get amplified. The technical explanation gets pretty nerdy, so let’s just say the quantum dots enhance and amplify color.

CNET has a good explainer here if you want to dig into the technical side.

LG has for many years been the main proponent and manufacturer of large format OLED displays, and has been evolving its technology to meet the brightness challenge in other ways. It recently announced technology that ups the brightness on OLEDs by as much as 30%.

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