Samsung is reportedly negotiating a large order of OLED TV panels from one of its biggest display-making rivals, LG. According to a report from Korean media, Samsung is closing a deal where LG will supply the Korean phone maker with millions of OLED panels for TVs.
This shows Samsung’s attempt to shift away from LCD panels in its QLED TVs, which use a combination of LCD backlighting and quantum dot filters. According to the report, officials from both companies met to discuss the deal. An insider source familiar with the matter quoted one of LG’s employees saying “We have not signed a supply contract yet, but we only need to go through a working-level consultation to finalize the details”. The said employee added that these kinds of deals are nothing new, but they have never managed to actually finalize one.
The report says that a total of 1 million OLED panels will be supplied to Samsung in H2 2021 and the number will increase to 4 million by 2022.
It is unclear what Samsung will be using these OLED panels for, but according to the report, the company is currently working on a QLED TV without LCD backlighting. These prototypes were reportedly rejected back in January by Samsung Electronics for having low brightness.
