LGE announced on December 16 that the company would introduce its first QD TV at CES 2015. It is a double-headed strategy following the OLED. It is regarded as its intention to actively pursue ‘leadership in picture quality.’
The `LG QD TV,` scheduled to be disclosed at the CES comes in 2 sizes: 55-inch and 65-inch. It is the 4th QD TV in the world, following Sony, TCL and Skyworth. Among Korean manufacturers leading the global TV market, LGE is the first company to announce a QD TV. What distinguishes LGE`s QD TV is that the QD film was put on the IPS panel, which is the advantage of LG TVs to secure 178° wide viewing angle and enhance the color reproduction range. As a result, LGE said, it implemented a color reproduction range that is more than 30% wider than the existing LCD TV.
Also, unlike Sony and Chinese products, this product does not use the heavy metal cadmium. So the environmental concern has been removed. Over the years, environmental pollution due to chemical substances has been an obstacle to the QD TV, but LGE became the first to release a non-cadmium QD TV.
While LGE is pushing the `Ultra OLED` this year, internally the R&D department is accelerating the effort to develop the QD TV. The OLED has the upper hand in terms of technology and performance, but LGE prepared the QD TV, which can be easily produced in large quantities, as part of the two-track strategy for next-generation TVs for the sake of ‘LG of picture quality.’
Jeong Do-hyeon, CFO of LGE also corroborated it by saying last October, “We are doing both the QD and OLED.” “The OLED has a yield problem, but is better than the QD,” he added at that time. “As the QD has a high color reproduction range and is different than the OLED in many respects, we are taking a two-track approach,” implying that LGE is preparing the QD as a means of ‘mass-production of high-definition TVs.’
Meanwhile, the LG QD TV is a model for 2015. A new design of the curved stand was applied. It is also known that LGE will unveil the next version of web OS 2015, the smart TV OS at the same time.
◇ News commentary
‘QD is spreading…The key is price.’
LGE`s disclosure of the QD TV is part of its two-track strategy to make the QD as one of the mainstays of the 4K UHD TV following the OLED. Its intention is to show LGE`s high-definition competency to the general public while overcoming the low yield and high price of the OLED. The company also used the non-cadmium QD to hold the leaders, i.e. Sony, TCL and Skyworth, in check.
Overseas manufacturers have been fostering the QD as an important axis of the next-generation TVs since last year. Sony released a TV based on the QD technology called ‘Triluminous Display’ last year, and a full HD (1920×1080) TV this year. Its strategy is to apply this technology to the premium models in all sizes from 40 inches to 85 inches, and show colorful images based on rich color reproduction.
As for Chinese manufacturers, TCL and Hisense disclosed the QD TV at IFA 2014, and Skyworth and Konka are also known to be preparing QD TVs. Though LG Display is supplying the OLED panels to them, the QD can easily implement high definition. So it is very attractive.
Samsung Electronics has not officially announced its position on the QD. On December 10, Kim Hyeon-seok, head of Samsung Electronics Visual Display (VD) Business Division (CEO), was quiet about the QD. He just said, “I`ve never said anything about it.” However, as the VD Business Division of SEC is known to have begun to develop the QD TV by putting the QD film on the panels supplied by Samsung Display, expectations about `Samsung QD TV,` e.g. the curved QD TV, are growing in the industry.
However, the high price for the size remains an unsolved problem. Sony`s QD model of the 42-inch full HD TV, W900B, is ￥130,000 (about KRW1.2 million), 13% more expensive than the non-QD model W800B ￥100,000 (about KRW930,000). The QD was applied to all 4K models, and 49-inch X8500B, the base model, sells for ￥220,000 (about KRW2.04 million), and 55-inch for ￥280,000 (about KRW2.6 million). Jeong Do-hyeon, CFO of LGE acknowledged it by saying, “The QD film increases the cost.”
Seo Hyeong-seok | hsseo@etnews.com