Despite spending the best part of a decade giving the OLED TVs made by arch South Korean rival LG what might generously be called ‘a hard time’, Samsung has today confirmed rumours that have been doing the rounds since 2022 by launching a new OLED TV that uses a panel made by LG Display. Though the way Samsung has introduced it suggests that, perhaps understandably, it’s not keen to make much of a song and dance about this once unthinkable fact.
The game-changing TV in question is called the 83S90C, and rather than the LG Display panel at its heart, the first thing most people will likely notice about it is that it sports a huge 83-inch screen, adding a new bigger option above the 77-inch model that previously marked the upper limit of the S90C range. According to Samsung’s announcement of its surprise new TV, it will be going on sale in the US as early as this week, with a recommended price of $5,400.
So far, so straightforward. From here on in, though, things get much more complicated.
For starters, by using a panel bought in from LG Display at its heart, the 83S90C is inevitably using so-called WOLED/WRGB technology instead of the Samsung-developed Quantum Dot OLED technology used in all of Samsung’s other OLED TVs to date.
The WOLED approach adds a white element to colour reproduction to help create more brightness, whereas – as Samsung has been keen to stress since it introduced the technology last year – the QD OLED approach is a ‘pure’ RGB technology. Samsung has long maintained while pushing its long-running LED expertise over OLED that it wouldn’t use WOLED technology because it can impact colour tones in high brightness areas and contribute to an increased chance of an OLED TV suffering with permanent image retention (AKA screen burn).
Yet here we are in 2023, with Samsung suddenly putting its years of WOLED hostility behind it and quietly adding a WOLED screen to its latest TV range.
This decision likely explains, too, why Samsung has been so keen to refer to its QD OLED models simply as ‘OLEDs’, rather than differentiating between ‘traditional’ OLED and its new OLED variation technology. By just calling everything OLED, after all, the brand doesn’t have to make it explicitly obvious that it is now including panels made by LG Display alongside its own home grown panels.
This naming approach doesn’t necessarily do the consumer any favours, though. After all, by simply calling its debut WOLED TV the 83S90C, Samsung is hardly making it immediately obvious to consumers that the 83-inch model in the S90C range is using WOLED technology while all the other S90Cs are using QD OLED technology – even though this technological difference will inevitably result in a quite different picture performance given that the QD OLED models produce between 20 and 25% more brightness than standard WOLED technology (as well as using different colour systems and panel processing approaches).
Not all WOLED TVs (or QD OLED TVs come to that) are equal, of course. LG has introduced this year, for instance, a new Micro Lens Array (MLA) technology for its premium G3 series of WOLED TVs that greatly improves their brightness. The 83S90C, though, will not be getting this technology, so it really won’t perform like its S90C siblings. Despite using Samsung’s own Neural Quantum 4K picture processor.
So what does all this mean for the future of Samsung’s TV offering, and the world of TV technology generally?
For starters, Samsung suddenly welcoming WOLED into the fold after previously criticising it could be seen as illustrative of the fact that WOLED panels have improved greatly in terms of performance and long-term reliability over the past three or four years.
Samsung’s decision to add its first WOLED TV to an otherwise QD OLED range also raises questions, though, of where the brand might be headed for in 2024. Will it keep QD OLED as a premium technology and turn to WOLED for its more affordable ranges? Will it continue to mix QD OLED and WOLED up within its various OLED series based purely on screen size (currently QD OLED TVs are not available at screen sizes smaller than 55 inches or larger than 77 inches). Are there issues with making QD OLED screens bigger than 77 inches?
And what about the future of the LED and, more recently, Mini LED TV technologies Samsung has pushed so hard for year’s now? Are we seeing the beginnings of a wholesale shift by the brand towards self-emissive OLED technology at the expense of LED/Mini LED, at least in its mid-range and high-end segments? (It’s notable in this regard that Samsung now no longer manufactures the panels at the heart of many of its LCD TVs.) Or is Samsung simply embracing a more open-minded philosophy of just trying to offer something for everyone, rather than trying to dictate how it thinks the TV market should look?
The answers to these questions should start to come when we get our first glimpse at Samsung’s 2024 TV range – likely at the next CES in Las Vegas in January. In the mean time, though, if you have $5,400 burning a hole in your pocket, you like the idea of owning a Samsung TV with an LG Display panel at its heart (even on purely ironic grounds) and you understand the differences between the LG Display WOLED technology and Samsung QD OLED, then the 83S90C is likely a very enjoyable way to celebrate one of the TV world’s most unexpected unions.
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