LG OLED TVs are having production issues – here’s why that matters
After an OLED TV in 2020? There may be a problem, as LG Display’s new Gaungzhou factory is still months behind schedule, and yet to get its manufacturing line up and running.
The Chinese factory was set up to kickstart production of new OLED TVs, including smaller 48-inch OLED models that we expect to see on sale this year. Mass production at the factory was planned to start in October of last year, but has been delayed months past that point already.
IHS Markit, a global information provider based in the UK, has reduced its forecast for LG’s OLED TV production in the coming year from five million to 4.5 million – and that number could drop further if problems persist. LG produces OLED panels for several leading brands, including Sony, Panasonic and Philips.
- What is OLED? The TV panel technology explained
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What’s the issue? We’re yet to hear from LG Display itself, but the new factory is reportedly employing a number of new technologies designed to improve the efficacy of production compared to LG’s factory in Puja, South Korea, and this may be causing problems.
While the coronavirus outbreak is affecting some tech supply chains in and around China, it shouldn’t be an immediate issue in this case – unlike with TCL’s OLED factory in Wuhan – though concerns over containing the disease could restrict transportation of materials, or workers’ ability to travel domestically (via IHS Markit).
All TVs great and small
With new 2020 TV ranges starting to be shown off, and LG Display still the only manufacturer producing large-screen OLED panels, any hiccup in the production process could limit the number of sets available worldwide, and lead to in-store shortages in some territories – or at the very least delay the release dates for various OLED televisions landing this year, with most brands having yet to commit to specific release dates.
The 48-inch models expected to release in 2020 for select OLED ranges are likely to be the hardest hit.
OLED sets have long been stuck at prohibitively expensive price points, with TV brands that sought to offer budget models too early (such as Hisense) now ditching the technology entirely.
Smaller OLED displays have the potential to drastically cut the expense of these traditionally large-screen TV technologies, and companies backing OLED will need cheaper sets to keep building sales momentum, which reached one million units sold over the last quarter of 2019 (via Business Korea).
- Hisense is ditching OLED TVs: here’s why
- Via OLED-info