MicroLED TVs have been making headlines ever since Samsung unveiled "The Wall" at CES 2018, but unfortunately, we still have to wait a while before this potential OLED-killing competitor makes it into homes.

According to a new report released by the MicroLED Industry Association, MicroLED TVs are not expected to become popular until the early 2030s. [But it's not all bad for MicroLED: analysts predict that MicroLED technology will first be introduced in wearables and XR headsets, followed by laptops and monitors in 2026 or 2027. [Televisions and smartphones will likely be the last form factors to adopt MicroLED displays, with the first consumer devices appearing in the early 2030s.

As early as 2000, MicroLED technology has long fascinated the display industry with its potential for tremendous improvements in terms of brightness, color, and slimmer bezels. As its name suggests, MicroLED simply refers to minute LEDs, which are more powerful than OLEDs and can offer a much longer lifetime.

MicroLED TVs have long been marketed as an OLED killer, but they currently have several drawbacks, the main one being their very high asking price. As mentioned above, look no further than Samsung, which has developed a very perfect, yet very expensive MicroLED TV. The MSRP for this massive 146-inch 4K display is $220,000 (yes, really expensive).

Asus has also jumped into the MicroLED world with the ProArt Cinema PQ07, a 135-inch 4K HDR display with 2,000 nits peak brightness and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. And before you ask, yes, this too costs $200,000.

This is the ongoing problem with MicroLED. They are too expensive.

Currently, it costs $6,000 to $10,000 to produce a small 10- to 14-inch MicroLED display, which is a pretty poor replacement display for LED-LCD TVs, which typically cost several hundred dollars for a full-sized 65-inch screen.

Therefore, it makes sense that the MicroLED Industry Association, in its report, predicts that MicroLED models will not appear in the consumer TV market until at least 2030. If R&D efforts bear fruit and healthy (and more affordable) MicroLED products finally appear, the incredibly high prices of these displays will become much less expensive and consumer-friendly.

Consumers may not get MicroLED TVs anytime soon, but Apple is eyeing the technology for a possible Apple Watch Ultra upgrade and the upcoming Vision Pro headset.

Custom MicroLED displays could also be found in other Apple products like the iPhone and iPad in the future.

Can't wait for the future? QD-OLED TVs like Samsung's S95C OLED have arguably the best image and performance on the market and cost no more than $200,000.