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Displays Businesses

Samsung To Close LCD Business (koreatimes.co.kr) 44

Posted by BeauHD from the writing-on-the-wall dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Korea Times: Samsung Display has decided to close its liquid-crystal display (LCD) business in June, hobbled by a declining global competitive edge due to cheaper products made by its Chinese and Taiwanese counterparts, according to the industry, Sunday. No investment plan details have since been announced. The decision by the display affiliate of Samsung Group came six months sooner than expected, due in large part to rapid losses from falling LCD prices. According to Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), a U.S. market research firm, the average price index of LCD panels, measured against 100 in January 2014, will fall to 36.6 in September of this year. The figure has dropped farther from the record low of 41.5 in April of this year, and 58 percent lower than the record high of 87 in June 2021.

Samsung Display will no longer produce LCDs used for large TV screens and focus instead on manufacturing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and quantum dot (QD) displays. The employees of the LCD businesses are expected to be transferred to the QD businesses. The display affiliate was first formed in 1991, as an LCD business arm under Samsung Electronics. It formally launched in 2012 as Samsung Display and has since merged with three local and Japanese makers of active matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED), for the production of advanced types of displays.
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Samsung To Close LCD Business More

Samsung To Close LCD Business

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  • OR.... not (Score:5, Informative)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @07:04PM (#62581988)

    They're shifting focus from older LCD panels to newer OLED panels.

    • Hilariously worded ain't it?

    • Not even that. They are shifting focus from older LCD panels to newer LCD panels ... which is what their QD panels actually are.

    • Thank God! LCD panels are one of the few things Samsung excels at (I'm a weirdo and don't like their phones, too much bloat). I gladly pay more for their quality.

      Samsung appliances on the other hand, can die a fiery death. Apparently they have zero experience in bearing design. [youtube.com]

  • Really? (Score:4, Informative)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @07:52PM (#62582090)
    I thought a "Quantum Dot" display was just an LCD with extra buzzwords

    • Nope, my friend, you couldn't be more wrong!

      It's just OLED with extra buzzwords.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by higuita ( 129722 )

        and that extra buzzword, if well implemented, can improve the already good OLED, to make it look better, wider angles and lasting longer (no burn-in)

        • And brighter.
        • Most importantly- brighter. Currently, OLED panels are WRGB, and while W is off, they have reasonable color accuracy, but when displaying HDR content, that W OLED is lit, and color accuracy drops like a rock. It's an unfortunate trade-off for perfect contrast.

          QD-OLED will allow displays bright enough for HDR without using a diluting white OLED.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Linus Tech Tips reviewed a Samsung QD-OLED and while the picture was excellent, the Samsung software was garbage tier as usual. Apparently Sony is producing some TVs with the same panel so those might be better.

            • I have a QLED, and I can attest, the software is definitely fucking garbage.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by flink ( 18449 )

              I have a recent Sony OLED that is running a fairly generic build of Android TV. I've had a few audio glitches with it that required a reboot, but those seemed to have smoothed out over time with updates. Overall not too bad.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                That's good to know. I use an Nvidia Shield which is pretty much raw Android, and it's good. Remote isn't great but otherwise very responsive and plays everything.

              • I have a recent Sony OLED that is running a fairly generic build of Android TV.

                Is it reloadable with a user-defined system?

                Now that prices of large screens have been dropping I's started considering getting one. But the all seem to be "smart TVs" crammed with spyware, many with license agreements you have to agree to before they'll even show you TV shows.

                I'd like to get something that, like a laptop or desktop computer, I'd be able to load with my own configuration using open-source software (perhaps with

                • I have a few years old Sony TV with AndroidTV built in. They have kept it relatively current to the latest version AFAIK, and it’s very easy to sideload anything. I don’t use the Android interface for much, but it’s snappy still, as it used a new processor in its model year.

                  If you’re wanting to replace Android on a TV, you’re better off buying a box or dongle, and you definitely wouldn’t want to pay Sony’s prices just to change the software, because that’s w

      • Unsure how it's a "buzzword".
        It's technically accurate, and the distinction between the use of QD and not is technically important.

      • Nope, my friend, you couldn't be more wrong!

        It's just OLED with extra buzzwords.

        False. Samsung's QD is not the QD systems you read about when you look up Wikipedia. They are not self-emissive diodes which is what a lot of QD research is aimed at and which isn't remotely ready for market yet (hell it's barely left a lab).

        They are LCD panels with a QDCC enhanced backlights. It dramatically improves colour and improves contrast of traditional LCD screens, but it is none the less very much a traditional LCD display on top.

      • Monorail!

    • Re:Really? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @11:07PM (#62582436)

      Yes and no. People here are confusing quantum dots with QD-OLED. Which do use them, but...

      Quantum dots are used in displays as a replacement for colour filters. In a traditional LCD (or WOLED), you shine a white light through red/green/blue colour filters to produce colour. This is very energy inefficient, because you block most of the light you produce, and the colour quality isn't very high, because you're letting through a broader spectrum through each filter than is ideal. With quantum dots, they can be used to change the colour of light without filtering it. You shine a light on the quantum dots and the quantum dots glow with a specific colour. This is very energy efficient (very little energy is lost) and the resulting light has a very precise spectrum. In a QD-OLED panel, every OLED subpixel is blue, so you just let the blue subpixels shine through directly, and you put red and green quantum dot layers on top of the red and green subpixels. Boom, RGB OLED with high efficiency. LG's WOLED panels shine white light at red/green/blue subpixels that use colour filters, but those have the aforementioned issues, so they also put a fourth white subpixel to boost the brightness, which can have a desaturating effect.

      The idea is similar for LCD panels, instead of colour filters changing the colour from the backlight, they use quantum dots. Samsung isn't the only one to do this, LG has them too, they call it "nanocell" or "nano ips" or whatever.

      Quantum dot LCD displays do offer big advantages over regular colour filter LCD displays, but... they're still ultimately LCDs, and thus inherit all the disadvantages of LCDs.

      • And to be clear Samsung do not make QD-OLED displays. They are QD LCDs.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Guspaz ( 556486 )

          QD-OLED is literally the invention of Samsung Display, who are the sole manufacturer... Samsung also makes QD-OLED televisions with those panels, and (soon) the G8QNB QD-OLED monitor.

    • You thought wrong.

      It's just an LCD with Quantum Dots to produce subpixel colors instead of color filters, giving much brighter colors.
      That's not a buzzword, it's a technical distinction.

  • Old tech (Score:3)

    by cirby ( 2599 ) on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @07:54PM (#62582104)

    Supposedly, one of the newer technologies from Samsung is going to be better overall, AND will be cheaper to make (fewer manufacturing steps).

    Other companies are following suit - in a few years, plain old LED is going to be outdated across the board.

    • OLED, Quantum Dots whatever... it's all old over-complicated and unreliable bullshit once micro-LED arrives.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cirby ( 2599 )

        Not so much - there's some stuff in the pipeline that makes micro-LED look clunky.

        Think "tailored nanostructures clumped into pixels." Brighter, more accurate colors, easier to make (in theory).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Khyber ( 864651 )

          We've already got nano-LED with LIFT-based fabrication methods (we literally blast the LED off the substrate down into the panel and then align it with further laser pulses then melt it into place.)

      • There's nothing unreliable about Samsung's QD offerings. They are identical to LCDs because they are fundamentally LCDs. Also "once micro-LED arrives" is quite a silly thing to say. You're literally making an assessment about something which does not currently exist.

        Wait. Are you from the future? Is dubstep still a thing?

  • LCD panels last too long. They make more money from people replacing their burned-in OLEDs every 3 years.

    • My first real OLED panel was in a laptop. 3 years and counting, no burn-in.
      But older than that? My iPhone X. 5 years, no burn-in.

      Burn-in is real, don't get me wrong. But in my experience, those who scoff at it are generally pissed off that some OLED panel looks a lot better than whatever they're using, and they're too proud to just purchase an OLED.

      • I had a moto x with an OLED display. Didn't realise how dim it had got until I bought a new phone. The colour reproduction had also suffered and was a little on the yellow side of things. I'm guessing the blue oleds had degraded faster than the rest

        • Blues were a big problem with old OLEDs (well, technically, still are).
          The workaround used on modern panels is to use 2 blue OLEDs to double the lifetime of them.
          • (or bigger, driven less hard)

            You get the idea. The blues are fragile, and the fragility is dependent on power density.

    • So if your TV shows signs of burn-in within 3 years, you'll buy another one from the same manufacturer instead of telling your friends how much it sucked and purchase from a competitor instead?

      • I've only recently heard about burn in on OLED.

        I've got 2x OLED TVs...one is like 5+ years old, the other is like 2-3 years old.

        I've not seen any signs of burn in...even after leaving for hours on a news channel, etc.

        I had plasma TVs before this and I never had a problem with those either, although when I got those I ran the DVDs that did a break-in period with them, that ran for a few hours changing colors, hues, brightnesses, etc....

        To me, OLED is the closes replacement for plasma I could find...the b

        • > I had plasma TVs before this and I never had a problem with those eithe

          I've been very meticulous with my Panny VT60 plasma but sadly I have burn-in after a few years of gaming on it. I've run multiple overnight "screen wipes" from day 1 to be preventative but sadly static games images have left a few burn in after images on it.

          I'll eventually upgrade to OLED when Plasma finally dies but for now I don't "need" a new TV and would rather put the money towards other things.

      • a) QLED TV's largely solved the burn-in problem half a decade ago.
        b) Samsung's main lineup is QD displays which never suffered from burn-in in the first place since they are LCD based and not LED based.

    • I do wonder about this. Our primary TV is a long-discontinued Mitsubishi 55" LCD we bought in 2011 for about $1k. There's still no indication of wear-and-tear and I haven't been persuaded by the features of new TV's to upgrade. To us, the Mitsubishi has a beautiful picture and we're happy to extend its usage indefinitely.

  • This is interesting news, because if they move to OLED it means that the burn-in problem must now be solved.
    Because only 3 years ago Samsung posted this video against OLED...

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/... [youtube.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rhipf ( 525263 )

      I'm not sure if that video is a warning against OLEDs or just a fancy commercial to sell QLED sets (a commercial to sell QLEDs is the most likely case though).

    • Traditional LED displays can burn in because some of the different colored LEDs are used at varying intensity and can lead to some aging more rapidly than others, which is where the image retention starts to appear. With the QD approach Samsung uses they just have a single type of LED and use the dots to adjust the color by diffusing the light. Unless the dot layer could get stuck, there really isn't the issue of traditional burn-in. At worst you could probably get something due to aging if parts of the dis
  • "Good riddance" I say as I look at my series 6 curved 49" TV that started developing blue-ish/discolored spots after 2 and a half years usage, now about 60% of the screen is covered in spots. Only Samsung appliance I still own that works OK is an early 2000's digital picture frame.

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