Samsung rejuvenated the OLED TV market when its display subsidiary Samsung Display announced QD-OLED technology two years ago. Quantum Dot (QD) OLED panels promised richer colors than LG Display’s white OLED panels (WOLED) and presented a viable competitor to what had become the only option for OLED TVs. Various companies, from Samsung Electronics to Sony, touted the advantages of QD-OLED over WOLED. Today, this has changed.
Samsung’s 2024 OLED TV lineup will include TVs with both QD-OLED and WOLED panels. Samsung started doing this last year with the 83-inch S90C. But this year, it will be even more difficult to determine whether Samsung’s new OLED TV has quantum dots, reports Arstechnica.
Samsung announced the entry-level S85D, S90D, and flagship S95D models in January without specifying the type of OLED panels. But it’s clear that the S90D will have WOLED panels, as Samsung said it will be available in 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch sizes. QD-OLED is not available in 42, 48, or 83 inches.
But according to a report by the Korean publication The Elec It is said that other S90D screen sizes could be WOLED or QD-OLED. Vincent Teo, a display expert at the HDTVTest YouTube channel, had this to say:
Samsung will not directly advertise any of its 2024 OLED displays as QD-OLED.
Theo added that at Samsung’s recent trade show in Frankfurt, the 55-inch S90D was on display, which he said was a QD-OLED, «based on its sub-pixel» configuration.
Samsung is using both WOLED and QD-OLED for its S90D TVs because LG Display asked Samsung not to position WOLED as being of lesser quality than QD-OLED. However, Samsung’s most expensive OLED TV of 2024, the S95C, is expected to use QD-OLED for all sizes.
Samsung has long refused to sell OLED TVs, preferring to sell LCD panels with quantum dots in premium TVs. However, amid price increases by LCD panel manufacturing partners in China, rising consumer interest in OLED, and reports of pressure from the South Korean government, Samsung sought to enter the OLED market and eventually formed a partnership with rival LG.
Elec also reported that Samsung is considering releasing its cheapest OLED TV in 2024, the S85D, with a WOLED display only, but the company has not yet made a final decision. While checking out a device on display at CES 2024, Theo confirmed that this particular device has WOLED.
Now that Samsung is promoting WOLED, it has confused its initial statements about OLED and quantum dots, opened the door to consumer confusion, and made it even more difficult to differentiate between the different OLED variants.
If the reports are confirmed, it will be more difficult for buyers to understand what sub-pixel arrangement will be in Samsung’s 2024 OLED TVs. WOLED panels have a WRGB sub-pixel structure, while QD-OLED panels use a triangular RGB sub-pixel arrangement. Reviews have shown that these differences lead to differences in performance. For example, QD-OLED TVs have purer colors because there is less noise between the pure «colors because they are not diluted by the white» subpixel. QD-OLEDs have also been proven to provide higher full-screen brightness than older generations of WOLED panels. However, the white subpixel in WOLED displays has an advantage when it comes to white color display, which is especially important for things like glare and HDR.