Samsung's OLED HDTV Dropping in Korea This Year

Samsung is teasing more information on its future plans for OLED HDTVs. In a recent report, the company stated that it hopes to have a 55" Super OLED 3D TV hit store shelves in Korea by the second half of 2012. Unfortunately, the company has yet to release any information on when such a TV would drop in on U.S. shores. However, an executive for the company did say that it would probably take at least two to three years before OLED HDTVs were widely available.

On the other hand, Samsung did mention back in January that its 55" OLEF TV would be available worldwide in 2012 with an expected price tag of $9,000 when it starts selling in Korea. The company first debuted the set at CES 2012 and promised a TV that produced deeper contrasts and finer detail than your average OLED displays. The technology that Samsung is relying on is self-emitting RGB sub-pixels that are placed directly on the display in order to achieve what it claims are more vivid images. In addition to that, the new set will feature voice and gesture control, a dual-processor and Smart Hub media integration.

Aside from Samsung, LG also offers a 55" OLED 3D TV that debuted during CES as well. Amid the early competition between Samsung and LG, it was rumored that LG's set would debut in Europe this May for $8,000. However, the Associated Press reported that the company plans on releasing its OLED HDTV within the last three months of this year.

Sony is also jumping on the bandwagon, working on something that the company is calling Crystal LED, which was also a heavily discussed topic at CES. Sony is claiming that Crystal LED displays will have 3.5 times as much picture contrast as well as 1.4 times richer color. Unlike LG and Samsung, Sony's tech is still in the prototype phase and has no announced plans for a release date or pricing scheme. However, that could easily change as Sony announced in April that it would focus on Crystal LED and OLED display technologies as part of the new corporate overhaul under Kazuo Hira, Sony's new CEO.

Many people are looking forward to both Samsung and LG's 55" OLED HDTVs. What we all want to know is will be when these sets will hit and how much they will cost. As it stands right now, LG's device will be $1,000 cheaper than Samsung's and could also hit U.S. store shelves sooner. More information about Samsung's device is said to be released at Berlin's IFA Trade Show, which begins on August 31, 2012.

Source: PC World - Samsung's 55-Inch OLED TV Rolls Out in 2012; U.S. Launch Date Unknown