Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on our sister site, Tom’s Guide.
If you’ve yet to invest in a new QD-OLED TV like the Sony A95K or Samsung S95B because you’ve been waiting for a price drop, we’ve got some good news for you: Samsung Display, the only company that’s currently making QD-OLED panels, is expected to boost QD-OLED production capacity by 50% by 2024.
When production increases manufacturers like Samsung Electronics and Sony will have access to a greater supply of panels which, in theory, should help drive down the cost as they save money by buying panels in bulk.
For now, Samsung Display is only producing panels in five sizes: 32 inches, 49 inches, 55 inches, 65 inches and 77 inches. The last three sizes are the panels that go into QD-OLED TVs while the first two sizes are the panels that go into QD-OLED monitors.
As to when we can expect the next batch of TVs to be available to the public, we’re hoping to see the 2023 Samsung S95C QD-OLED available by the end of March or early April – though Samsung hasn’t confirmed that yet.
QD-OLED is just following tech’s regular trajectory
The information in this report comes to us from a Korean newspaper called HelloT, which cites UBI Research, a group of professional analysts in Korea, China, and Japan.
The report helps explain how technology becomes cheaper with time, however, you can make the case that QD-OLED TVs are just following the same trajectory that we saw for OLED TVs, LED-LCD TVs, and even plasma TVs a few years ago. All these technologies cost a lot to make at their inception – typically because that’s when research costs are the highest and production yields are the lowest. The following year, research costs go down, production goes up and then the cost to you comes down.
What makes this report worth noting, however, is that we have a pretty firm timeline of when production is increasing and by how much. Usually, these figures don’t escape the company boardroom, so having them available to the larger public is a nice commodity.
Knowing when a technology is going to become cheaper allows you to make better buying decisions – and it helps us to know when to recommend a new product or hold off on recommending something until the next generation.
About the Author
Nick Pino heads up the TV and AV verticals at Tom’s Guide and covers everything from OLED TVs to the latest wireless headphones. He was formerly the Senior Editor, TV and AV at TechRadar (Tom’s Guide’s sister site) and has previously written for GamesRadar, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, and other outlets over the last decade. Not sure which TV you should buy? Drop him an email or tweet him on Twitter and he can help you out.
