Question: When is a 15-inch diagonal size considered a legitimate TV? Simple, when you add the four letters O L E D in front. In fact, Sony has done this for a couple of years now with its 11-inch XEL-1 "OLED-TV" and, at 3mm, it is considered the world’s "thinnest" TV in production. It is also the most expensive consumer TV (OK under 85-inches) on a per-inch basis, with a selling price of $2,499 or $227/inch.)

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Back in January at CES, LG showed its version of the mini-giant in a 15-inch package and gained the distinction to be the first native HD OLED-TV with a resolution of 1366 x 768 (the Sony is only 960 x 540 pixels.) Now LG is making good on their promise of delivering the 15-inch display in 2009 by announcing it is shipping (in Korea only) and claiming the world’s thinnest TV in production title with a new 1.7mm thin display-cutting the old record almost in half. That thickness level has grown from the 0.8mm prototype 15-inch panel shown at CES, by the way. Other specs on this display technology for the next decade include 100K:1 contrast and a 3M Korean Won ($2580) price tag that lets Sony keep the highest price per inch crown in the consumer category. (Truth be told, Panny actually holds the title with its $53K 103-inch behemoth that originally sold for $70K, a whopping $680/inch.)

At CES we learned the LG prototype panel was driven at 120Hz, and while watching an LG engineer make some adjustments, we noticed some signal noise that suggested the panel was being driven by two sets of vertical drivers (left and right). LG said the plan at the time was to manufacture the panels in mass production at Fab line 1 in Gumi, Korea. The engineer (wanting to go unnamed at the show) told us they would be in production "for sure" by the second half of 2009 and it looks like he was spot-on with that prediction.

In fact, OLED manufacturing is gaining traction in Korea, even while some Japanese manufacturers are dropping out. OLED-info.com recently reported that Samsung is mulling a Gen 5.5 OLED production line capable of delivering 1320mm x 1500mm (about 52- x 60-inch) substrates, which can be used to efficiently produce 30-inch OLED-TVs. This would require a total investment of $1.3B from the Samsung Mobile Display - the group who popularized small and medium sized OLED panels in digital cameras, cell phones and other mobile devices.

There was also a report that "several Korean firms" including Samsung, LG and "others" signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop OLED manufacturing equipment to produce large-sized AMOLED panels. The group is looking to usurp Japan as the major supplier of the tools to manufacture the next generation OLED panels-particularly targeting domestic Korea production. The news came on top of a May-09 agreement between Samsung and LG to develop such equipment, as reported by Chosun Ilbo.

But one Japan manufacturer, Kyocera, is moving the other way. The company recently reported closing down their OLED subsidiary that was working with UDC to manufacturer PHOLED panels for cell phones and other smaller mobile devices.

Perhaps above all, the news suggests that the move to large OLED displays is proving far more complex and investment heavy than previously thought. LCDs are a moving target in both price and display performance (plus the cool thinness factor), so OLEDs are continually challenged to deliver an ever growing set of parameters that are higher, better, and yes-cheaper than the status quo, even before mass production begins.

Is the technology (or rather the concentrated human thought) up to the challenge? Our best guess-yes, as long as the money holds out. Put another way-as long as belief in OLED meeting the challenge and delivering the goods holds out by those stakeholders who are leading the charge. You can’t help but cheer them on-for the world loves an underdog. - Steve Sechrist