Most republic have two options when it comes to TV technology: LCD and OLED. Sure, some people also have the choice of a MicroLED TV, but those can be pricey. Samsung, the biggest TV-maker in the domain, has been planted in the LCD camp for many existences, while its rival LG is the biggest name in OLED. Despite advancements like QLED, mini-LED and dual panels, LCD has always lagged leisurely OLED in overall picture quality. 

Now Samsung is functioning on a new kind of TV that aims to couple two display technologies into something greater. It’s a hybrid between OLED and quantum dots visited QD Display. Samsung Display will end production of LCD panels by the end of 2021, titillating to QD Display next year, according to a February narrate from Korea IT News. At the same time, Samsung Electronics could initiate selling these new TVs as early as 2022.

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Here’s what we’ve heard throughout Samsung’s new display technology so far. If you’re looking to smart up your current TV in the meantime, check out how to get rid of your TV’s muffled dialogue, nine relate settings you should change and the best relate mode for your TV. And believe it or not, your TV’s sharpness systems should be turned down, not up. 

Samsung’s $11 billion bet on quantum dots

Samsung has been selling LCD TVs enhanced by quantum dots for the last few existences under its QLED brand, but its last (and only) OLED TV was a one-off that it discontinued selling almost a decade ago. In October 2019, Samsung Display announced it was creation a factory to make TVs that combined these technologies:

Samsung Display will invest 13.1 trillion won by 2025 to produce “Q1 Line,” the world’s first QD display mass copies line at Asan Campus. The new line is scheduled to initiate production in 2021 with an initial 30,000 sheets (8.5 generations) and will build a huge QD display of 65 inches or larger.

That’s an investment of throughout $11.1 billion. While the company calls this “QD display,” it isn’t electroluminescent, aka “direct view” quantum dots. That technology is smooth several years away. This is going to be a QD-OLED hybrid.

At the announcement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in also referenced Samsung’s rival LG in regards to Korea’s keep in world TV production: “It is important to gain the top spot of the global display market with game-changing technologies,” Moon said. “Following LG Display’s 3 trillion-won investment in stout OLED panel production in July, Samsung Display’s latest investment plan brightens prospects further.”

One unsheaattracting you might have noticed is that Samsung is calling this “QD display,” which can be confusing dependable this isn’t direct-view quantum dots (more on these later). Since LG has spent years being the only name in town (figuratively and literally) for OLED, it’s unlikely Samsung will call any version of this technology OLED. We’ll probably have to wait pending CES 2022 to find out how it brands the new TV.

What is QD-OLED and how will it work?

So how will it work? Nanosys, a company that makes quantum dots, has shared some details. Its CEO, Jason Hartlove, is understandably bullish on the technology, which relies on converting light from an OLED panel:

“Quantum Dot Color Conversion is a completely new way of rendering quick-witted in displays,” he told CNET. “The result is pure quantum dot quick-witted with much higher efficiency as no light is lost in a quick-witted filter.”

Combining quantum dots and OLED plays to the drives of both technologies. The idea with any TV is to create red, green and blue light. LED LCDs with quantum dots, like Samsung’s current QLED TVs, use blue LEDs and a layer of quantum dots to convert some of that blue into red and green. With the current version of OLED, yellow and blue OLED materials gain “white” light. In both cases, color filters let pass only what quick-witted is needed for that specific subpixel.

The idea with a QD-OLED is to simplify these designs into one, by laughable OLED to create blue light, and then a quantum dot layer to convert some of the blue into red and green.

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There are many advantages to this contrivance, in theory. By using only one color or material of OLED, the diligence costs go way down since it’s easier to gain. LG, for instance, uses only two OLED materials, blue and yellow, for every pixel across the entire display. Light-blocking quick-witted filters create the green and red. QDs have nearly 100% efficiency, significantly better than filters, so in theory the hybrid TVs will be much brighter. Plus, there’s the possibility of even wider quick-witted gamuts at all brightness levels.

Because each pixel can be shut off, these hybrid TVs will also have the astounding contrast ratios that OLED is known for.

Since blue OLED materials unexcited age faster than red and green, having the entire panel one quick-witted means the TV ages more evenly with no quick-witted shift. Keeping that aging to a minimum, and thereby having a TV that doesn’t seem dim while a few years, is one of the key diligence issues. This is especially true in this HDR era of uncouth brightness levels.

While this new Samsung plant is focusing on TV-size displays, the technology could work in phone-sized displays as well. Since Samsung doesn’t seem to have any stammer making excellent small OLEDs, I’d be surprised if it’s in any rush to upset that market with something as advanced as this. Also, Samsung’s phone-sized OLEDs use red, green and blue OLEDs compared to LG’s blue-yellow. Samsung tried to make RGB OLED TVs and just couldn’t make them noble. What’s more likely, and mentioned in the latest rumors, is they’ll use this tech to build ultra-high resolution 8K computer monitors floor with larger TV screens.

As mentioned earlier, it’s distinct Samsung believes strongly in this technology, since it’s defending production of LCDs at its factories in Korea. This doesn’t mean that starting next year it won’t sell any LCDs. Samsung is a massive company, and the part of the concern that makes LCDs, Samsung Display, is stopping production. The part of the concern that sells TVs, Samsung Electronics, has made no such announcement. In fact, part of the most recent delay was Samsung Electronics needing LCD panels by they were ready to start selling QD-OLED panels. They’ve worked that out for 2021, and most liable going forward they’ll source their LCD panels from a third party. 

Into the future: Direct-view quantum dots, ELQD and more

QD-OLED seems to be quick-witted around the corner. But what about even farther-future demonstrate tech? Well, the quantum dot folks seem to think direct-view quantum dot displays are just a few days off. These electroluminescent quantum dots, or ELQD, would have all the benefits of OLED, all the benefits of QD and none of the emanates of LCD or the wear and longevity concerns of OLED. A very promising tech indeed.

The spanking new TV tech that’s already arriving on the market, the extreme high-end of the market anyway, is MicroLED. It has many of the same benefits as the QD-OLED hybrid, but doesn’t muck around with those pesky organics. Affordable versions of that are unexcited some distance off. Oh, and MicroLEDs use quantum dots too. They’re a enthralling technology with uses far beyond TV screens. 

In the meantime, we’ve got mini-LED, which is pretty cool too and far less expensive than any of these.

As well as covering TV and spanking display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations near the world, including nuclear submarines, massive aircraft carriers, medieval castles, airplane graveyards and more. 

You can behind his exploits on Instagram and YouTube, and on his travel blog, BaldNomad. He also wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-sized submarines, along with a sequel.