Samsung has reportedly signed a deal for LG’s OLED TV panels. Reuters reports that LG Display will supply high-end 77-inch and 83-inch white OLED panels to Samsung in a deal that could help it turn a profit amid fierce competition in LCD panels from Chinese rivals.
This is the first time Samsung has bought OLED panels from its South Korean rival after years of rumors about similar deals. It’s also a big admission of defeat after Samsung stopped making OLED TVs in 2015, citing high panel costs in a miscalculation that the market wouldn’t be ready for high-end TVs. Samsung pushed ahead with its cheaper but inferior QLED TVs, a variation on LED LCDs, but OLED models have dominated the premium market.
LG has more than 50 percent of the market share of lucrative OLED TVs
Samsung has recently returned to OLED with its first QD-OLED TV launched last year and Samsung Display supplying OLED panels for Sony’s first QD-OLED TV. Reuters reports that LG Display will supply 2 million OLED panels to Samsung in 2024, 3 million in 2025, and then 5 million in 2026.
LG has grabbed more than 50 percent of the OLED TV market share with Sony at 26 percent and Samsung at just 6 percent, according to market research from omdia.
The deal comes at an ideal time for LG Display after it admitted there had been “sluggish demand” for TVs and lower-than-expected sales of OLED TV panels in its market. recent quarterly earnings.
Timing is also good for Samsung Electronics after the company had another terrible quarter due to weaker demand for semiconductors and a cut in memory chip production. Although Samsung has dominated the global TV market for 17 years in a row, has faced stiff competition from Chinese rivals with cheaper LCD TVs. You now clearly see the high-margin opportunity you missed with big OLED TVs.
