For a long time, if you wanted a device equipped with the best screen possible, be it a smartphone, a TV, a tablet, etc… I would always have to look at OLED technology. Incidentally, this is still the case today, after all, we are talking about something that has completely changed the way we consume multimedia in our day-to-day life, by bringing really black blacks, more vibrant colors, among many other things.
However, over the years, OLED remains an expensive technology, and apparently it is being overtaken by other newer and more interesting technologies.
Does OLED have its days numbered? The evolution is more than a lot!
First of all, it is necessary to take into account that the vast majority of OLED TVs, or OLED monitors, use W-OLED technology. That is, to increase brightness levels, the screen uses white light in addition to normal RGB (Red, Green and Blue). However, this has a negative effect on reliability and color quality, and let’s also be honest, it’s insufficient to push OLED brightness levels into the LED TV camp.
That’s why when you go to a specialty store, TVs equipped with Mini-LED technology, or pure and simple LED, look much brighter and more vibrant, despite the fact that OLED offers an almost always superior viewing experience, in indoor low-light environments.
Something that we have already had evolutions in anti-reflective layers, which greatly improves the OLED experience. However, this type of finish remains exclusive to more expensive models, still far from the more mainstream market. In addition, OLED is beginning to give way to other developments, such as the QD-OLED by Samsung and Sony, which, of course, already greatly improves the brightness level of these TVs. How does this work?
Well, QD-OLED TVs use a blue OLED layer under a Quantum Dot filter to change it to other colors. That’s why the Samsung QD-OLED S95B is capable of reaching 1000 nits of brightness, and the new Samsung QD-OLED S95C already reaches 1375 nits. By comparison, LG’s latest OLED (WOLED) TV clocks in at 800 nits.
OLED is over? The traditional will start to have its days numbered, appearing in lower price ranges. The rest of the market will continue to bet on more evolved versions of the technology!
That’s exactly why the LG OLED G3 already bets on a Micro-Lens Array panel, where millions of microscopic lenses are used to focus the light of the OLED pixels to improve the brightness of the TV in general. It is a TV that, based on a WOLED panel, already reaches 1470 nits of brightness.
What will happen in the medium/long term?
With Mini-LED getting cheaper and cheaper, and manufacturers increasingly betting on more evolved OLED technologies. We are going to see big price wars in the more mainstream markets, such as sub-1000€.
Something extremely interesting, and that could lead to a huge wave of ‘upgrades’ by consumers looking for better image quality, especially now that the PS5 seems to have hit the shelves in force.
