Everyone seems to be after the OLED TV business. Initially, there were rumors that Samsung was getting into OLED TVs, but now it seems that TCL is working on its own OLED set.

A recent report from TCL Europe's European press conference sparked speculation that not only is the TV maker working on its own OLED technology, but that TCL's first OLED TV may be available as early as 2023.

The rumor stems from a seemingly off-the-cuff statement at a TCL Europe press conference, as reported by What Hi-Fi and Tech Radar. This is largely consistent with other official statements from the company and public information about investments by Chinese consumer electronics manufacturers, but it is the first time we have heard a date specified as to when we will be able to see TCL's first OLED models.

To learn more about TCL's plans for OLED TVs, we spoke with Aaron Dew, director of product development for TCL North America.

From the beginning, Dew was reluctant to make any definitive statements about when TCL's OLED TVs would be available. However, he was willing to help us learn more about the current status of TCL's OLED development.

"As we have seen in the news and in comments from Europe this week, we are definitely investing in self-luminous technologies [such as OLEDs] and we see future opportunities in that technology," Dew said. [The technology is cheaper than LG's white OLED (WOLED) technology and is developing a new inkjet printing process that promises to make OLED TVs easier to manufacture.

According to a JOLED press release last year, TCL acquired a 10% stake in the company. According to other reports, TCL invested 20 billion yen ($187 million) in the OLED maker to jointly develop new OLED technology.

The story is complicated by the fact that TCL's panel manufacturing subsidiary, China Star Optoelectronics Technology (often referred to simply as TCL CSOT), is part of a larger TCL corporate family separate from TCL North America and TCL Europe. All of this is complicated.

As such, details about technology development and future manufacturing capabilities may not be well known elsewhere in the company. However, it is undeniable that TCL is considering adding OLED sets to its TVs and is working hard to develop OLED manufacturing capabilities.

"We are evaluating future display technologies. We are investing in future display technologies and we believe the time is right."

However, the addition of OLED models to TCL's other smart TVs would be a major shift for the manufacturer, whose primary focus has been on making high-quality but value-priced TVs. OLED technology may be the best in terms of picture quality and contrast, but it is also (for now) a premium product and a minority player in the TV world.

"If we take a big step forward," Dew says, "there are two kinds of TVs in the world today: self-emitting OLED TVs and LED LCD TVs. There are two types of TVs in the world today. They are self-emitting OLED TVs and LED LCD TVs."

The development of OLEDs will run parallel to existing technologies that TCL is already using and working to improve. Aaron Dew in particular cites mini-LED backlighting as the main focus of current TCL TVs, which makes a lot of sense.

TCL introduced miniature backlight technology in 2019. Only in 2021 did competitors begin to adopt similar mini-LED technology in their TVs, such as Samsung's Neo QLED line and LG's QNED with Mini-LED, in an attempt to catch up with superior models such as TCL's 6-series Roku TV (R635).

"That's our focus," Dew said, "on all kinds of new TV technology," talking about the balance between value and performance.

"We first introduced mini-LEDs in 2019," he added. I expect to have more to share with you later this year."

But what about the big question of when OLED TVs will appear?

But what about the big question of when OLED TVs will appear: while TCL Europe has said that OLED models could appear as early as 2023, Dew is not yet ready to give a definitive date.

"I am not ready to talk about when it will be commercialized," he said in response to our question.

Nevertheless, he was happy to point out that this type of investment in R&D has been a big part of TCL's success in recent years.

"It has allowed us to achieve the top two positions in TV market share here in the US. 'We produce everything we distribute and sell to our customers in-house. This gives us a great advantage in terms of introducing new technologies faster."

"And we continue to invest, new investments in things like inkjet printing of OLED materials.

In light of recent rumors that Samsung is purchasing OLED panels from rival Korean manufacturer LG, we also asked if there is a possibility of TCL OLED TVs using panels made by other companies.

"No," Dew replied flatly. 'Certainly, we have no plans to do such a thing, and we are not doing so today.'

Whatever the future holds for OLED TVs from TCL, TCL will continue to control their manufacture and will not rely on outside sources to supply components.