Samsung Electronics officially launched the 2015 next-generation TV ‘SUHD TV,’ and declared that ‘the company would be No. 1 in the global TV market for 10 years in a row.’ Its strategy is to raise the profitability of the TV business with premium TVs with the best functions that can be implemented in TVs.
SEC held the SUHD TV media day event at the Raum in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul on February 5, and unveiled the 55, 65, 75 and 88-inch SUHD TVs. They began to be sold to general consumers on that day. The 55-inch JS9000 model is priced at KRW5.49 million and 65-inch at KRW7.9 million.
The application of quantum dot (QD) increased the cost quite a bit, but it is cheaper than a 55-inch TV of the same class, which was released with a price tag of KRW5.9 million last year. Samsung Electronics Visual Display (VD) Business Division insider said, “As we implemented it with our own technology, we neutralized cost-increasing factors.”
Kim Hyeon-seok, head of the VD Business Division (CEO) of SEC introduced the SUHD TV as a ‘new-concept TV.’ He added that the company implemented the most natural colors by applying the QD-based nano crystal and the high dynamic range (HDR) dubbed the ‘peak illuminator.’ Its color expression was 92% according to DCI, and 100% according to SRGB. It was about 20% better than the existing LCD TV.
The ‘UHD Alliance,’ whose formation was announced last month, and the new smart TV OS ‘Tizen’ would back up the SUHD TV with contents and convenience respectively. In particular, as the company announced that it would tie all products made by the Consumer Electronics (CE) Division with the Tizen, SEC directly announced that the Tizen and Tizen TVs are at the center of SEC’s Internet of Things (IoT).
The SUHD TV sports only the best in terms of functions and convenience as well as picture quality. As HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, which were provided only for some ports until last year, are supported by all 4 ports, the connectivity with 4K UHD external devices is guaranteed. It also comes with the MHL, but it does not have display ports (DP).
It also implemented the industry’s first ‘All 10bit. The 4K UHD picture quality was expressed as close as possible to the original by making sure that the HDMI, HEVC decoder and panel respond to 10bit. Until last year, the panel of the LCD UHD TV was only 8bit, and thus it had to go through dithering, a step that deteriorates quality.
As it also comes with a tuner responding to the terrestrial 4K UHD experimental broadcasting transmission standard DVB-T2 and the UHD PVR function, it can directly record 4K UHD contents. An SEC VD Business Division insider said, “If the ATSC 3.0 standard is finalized and adopted as the domestic transmission standard, it will be supported by replacing the ‘One Connect Box.’”
The ‘Quick Connect,’ which improved the connectivity with mobile devices, blurred the distinction between the TV and the smartphone in terms of viewing images. Lee Jeong-ho, manager of the TV Marketing Group in the VD Business Division of SEC, said, “With a single click, you can wirelessly view the images you were watching on your smartphone continuously on your TV, and if you link it to the alarm, you can view desired information on your TV when the smartphone alarm is sounded.”
SEC will capitalize on the SUHD TV to expand the UHD models to 36 models in 10 series this year, and the curved TV from 14 models last year to 21 models this year, and thus take the leadership in the premium market and improve both its sales and profits.
“We had a hard time last year due to the strong dollar and the weak Euro, but we overcame with the premium strategy,” said Kim Hyeon-seok. “We will strengthen this strategy further this year.” SEC said that its premium products like the SUHD TV would take up about 10% of the total sales volume, and about 30% of the total sales amount.