As a result of manufacturing issues, Samsung’s highly anticipated range of smaller microLED TVs has been delayed until 2024 at the earliest.
The new range, which is made up of 88-inch, 99-inch and 110-inch models, was expected to enter production during Q2 of this year, starting with the 99-inch. However, speculation that Samsung was struggling ignited last month after The Elec reported that “the production timeline for the 88-inch model has been pushed back to the third quarter of this year.”
Sources say that the 88-inch has been a particular challenge, requiring much smaller LED chips than larger models (34μm by 85μm compared to 75μm by 125μm). The process often renders many panels defective once they are fitted to the LTPS (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) backplane.
Samsung’s first microLED television was ‘The Wall’, a 146-inch display that was first shown off as CES 2018, and cost around $129,000 AUD ($100,000 USD). As a result, it didn’t have mass appeal, which led the company to announce development of smaller 4K microLED televisions.
MicroLED takes the best of OLED, with self-emissive pixels, and scraps its flaws, using inorganic materials instead of organic (OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode) meaning they don’t degrade and boasting greater brightness and contrast.
Reports indicate that the new range will be much cheaper than ‘The Wall’, but will still cost five to six figures and require professional installation. Prices are expected to start at around $113, 500 AUD ($80,000 USD).