Despite the strides made by Samsung into OLED displays for mobile devices, smartwatches, and other electronics, the tech giant apparently doesn’t believe the technology is well-suited for every display. In fact, because the displays are centered around organic materials, the company says, they are not a great choice for televisions in particular. The failure of OLEDs, Samsung says, mostly stem from the fact that the light-emitting diodes are organically-derived, as compared to more traditional LEDs. It’s worth mentioning that Samsung’s purpose in downplaying OLED displays appears to be part of a larger campaign against competing companies to its own QLED technology in the television market. Bearing that in mind, the company does make several valid points as to why OLED may not be the best choice for consumers and its remarks don’t appear to simply be an attempt at disparaging its rivals.
Samsung’s position on the matter should not be too surprising, either, since it is a well-known fact that OLED displays tend to begin losing blue tones faster than other colors. They also have a tendency to suffer more significantly from image burn-in problems over time. That makes them, for Samsung at least, an illogical choice when designing products that are intended to last for a long time after the initial purchase. That’s particularly true for devices intended to be or generally tending to be left on for extended periods at a time over the course of many years. For televisions, in particular, the initial purchase cost is typically high, so longevity and the ability to have a given set turned on for extended periods of time are key aspects that a majority of buyers are looking for. Beyond even that, television menus and on-screen prompts – such as notifications that appear when switching inputs or channels – tend to be repetitive. That means the opportunity for burn-in to occur is already above average with TVs, even without consideration for OLED’s burn-in issues. Those inherent issues have, of course, led the company to look outside of its own OLED manufacturing operations for the next step up in television display technologies.
Meanwhile, fans of Samsung’s OLED displays in other electronics should probably not be too worried about the company’s statements since it isn’t likely that Samsung will abandon OLED displays for smartphones anytime soon. Smartphone’s and other mobile technologies tend to have a much shorter cycle. They are, for the most part, only updated for around two to three years after release before the next wave of devices hits. For now, OLED seems to fare well enough over those spans of time.