Samsung to Enter OLED TVs? According to recent rumors, a partnership between Samsung and LG Display will see the two South Korean rivals produce millions of Samsung OLED TVs using LG's panels.

According to a report from South Korean broadcaster MTN and tech site Sammobile, high-level executives from Samsung and LG Display recently met and struck a deal under which Samsung will purchase as many as 5 million OLED TV panels between 2021 and 2022.

But how realistic are the rumors, and what could Samsung's OLED TV lineup do to change the TV industry?

To learn more about this potential deal, we spoke with Bob O'Brein of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC). His view O'Brein says, "I believe the rumored deal will not materialize."

He cited past rumors and a history of hostility between the two companies, which have competed not only for TV shopper dollars, but for features, technology, and more. Biggest takeaway. Despite Samsung and LG's long-standing and intense rivalry, it is still hard to believe that they will reconcile.

"This particular deal seems suspicious because it goes against years of Samsung TV marketing," says O'Brein, pointing to past marketing pushes that pointed out the shortcomings of OLED and QLED technology and that they will soon do an about face does not see it happening."

"That would mean that Samsung would acknowledge the superiority of OLED for TVs, which has never been done.

Although Samsung has never made any public statements about the superior quality of OLEDs, the company clearly has OLEDs in its sights. Samsung has been chipping away at OLED's superiority over the past few years. First, by adopting QLEDs, the company has significantly improved LCD performance over standard LED TV performance, bringing its premium LCD panel-based TVs much closer to OLED quality with better color and brightness, and improved HDR performance.

However, as quantum dot technology went from being Samsung's exclusive to being included in many relatively mainstream products, Samsung increased the volume of all other display technologies.

The biggest of these is micro-LED, which finally became available for purchase this year and goes head-to-head with OLEDs with similar pixel-by-pixel illumination. However, this potentially game-changing technology may not have much of an impact this year, as it costs more than a single Ducati motorcycle.

Samsung's NeoQLED TV is a more approachable product, but still offers a solid (and affordable) alternative to OLED. Samsung's new NeoQLED 4K and 8K TVs offer the next evolutionary step in LCD display technology by combining the coloring properties of QLED with the strict brightness and dimming control of mini LED backlighting.

The idea of Samsung's OLED TVs is appealing, but when combined with Samsung's excellent Tizen Smart TV software and OLED's crisp black levels and razor-sharp clarity, the result is an impressive TV.

"Samsung needs to buy panels at a much higher price than LG Electronics, so it will have to sell its TV products at a much higher premium than LG's OLED products," says O'Brein. Samsung would be competing with Sony and could take some of its business away."

Competing with Sony means offering not only outstanding quality, but also the most premium prices on 4K smart TVs. Sony's latest model, the Master Series A90J, which promises to be one of the best TVs ever, starts at $2,999 for a 55-inch TV and goes up from there, with popular OLEDs like the LG C1 OLED, which sells its latest 55-inch model for $1,799 It easily outperforms models.

This is a particularly interesting thought given that even in the OLED arena, competition is heating up in the most affordable models. The entry-level 55-inch Vizio OLED starts at a regular retail price of $1,299 and has even broken the $1,000 mark during sales.

Samsung produced one of the first OLED TVs in 2013, and OLED screens are used in all sorts of small Samsung devices, but will we see a new Samsung OLED TV?

Among the ripples that may be caused in the TV industry by the Samsung-LG alliance and the resulting Samsung OLED TVs, the biggest blow will come from Samsung's largest model, a recently launched model that combines traditional quantum dot enhancement and mini LED backlighting may be brought to the Neo QLED line.

"The Samsung-LGD (LG Display) deal will weaken the prospects for mini-LED TVs," says O'Brein. He mentions the 2021 trend of using mini-LED backlighting to provide more discrete dimming zones and better HDR performance.

Competitor TCL is introducing mini-LED-lit TVs in 2019 and 2020, and Samsung's adoption of the new technology in its flagship models shows that the company has had to pivot to meet the growing competition for affordable picture quality LG also, launching its own mini-LED TV line called QNED mini-LED TVs, but still insists that OLEDs are the superior product.

"If Samsung moves to OLED, these mini-LED products will be relegated to second place," says O'Brain. This is a major change for several TV manufacturers, including Samsung. Samsung has been betting heavily on mini-LEDs to boost its premium and mid-range TV products. For Samsung to risk diminishing the appeal of its own top-rated TVs does not seem like a viable course of action for the company.

However, Samsung has OLED ambitions. The manufacturer is developing a new hybrid technology called QD-OLED that combines the brilliant images of OLEDs with the superior brightness and color of quantum dots. Samsung's display division is investing heavily in this new technology, but it is not yet known when Samsung QD-OLED TVs will hit store shelves.

Will we see Samsung TVs using LG's OLED panels in 2022? Maybe, maybe not. However, it is only a matter of time before Samsung's OLED TVs may appear.