TV market: Samsung is preparing to abandon its QLED and Neo QLED televisions by 2028

Launched in 2017 to counter OLED, the QLED label, which is not a full-fledged emissive display technology but a marketing term designating an LCD television equipped with a quantum dot filter to expand the color gamut, will ultimately not have stood the test of time. According to information reported by the Korean daily Electronic Times (ETNews), the South Korean giant has decided to completely rethink its strategy in the face of an OLED technology that is now posting record sales.

 

QLED TV production, an 80% drop in production as early as this year Samsung Electronics plans to drastically reduce the production volume of its QD televisions, from around 10 million units last year to just 2 or 3 million units this year. Out of a total annual production of around 40 million screens for the brand, the cut is severe. The transition has already begun, in fact: Samsung has abandoned its entry-level and mid-range QLED range (equipped with standard [abc]LED[/abc] backlighting) in favor of Mini LED televisions without QD technology. The manufacturer now favors the superior contrast ratio of Mini LED at the expense of the extended colorimetry of quantum dots.

 

The Neo QLED TV lineup pushed toward the exit While the manufacturer has kept its flagship Neo QLED range for 2026 (combining Mini LED backlighting and QD filter), it has nevertheless been largely stripped of very popular series such as the QN90 and QN95, as well as most of its 8K models (QN900, QN800, QN700). According to an industry expert close to the matter quoted by ETNews, Neo QLED production will be cut in half next year, with a complete halt to manufacturing expected by 2028 at the latest.

 

 

Facing China, a price war and court battles This strategic withdrawal is explained above all by the aggressive offensive from Chinese competitors (TCL and Hisense leading the way), which have flooded the market with cheap QLED televisions integrating tiny amounts, or none at all, Samsung would say, of QD materials. Judging direct confrontation to be futile, Samsung prefers to step back. Behind the scenes, the legal battle is raging: Hansol Chemical, Samsung's Korean partner on quantum dots, has notably succeeded in getting TCL convicted in Germany for false advertising and "QD infringement." For its part, TCL has retaliated in the United States by suing Samsung over its own claims regarding Mini LED TVs.

 

The future belongs to QD OLED and Mini LED RGB Technophiles can rest assured, quantum dots are not dead at Samsung. The company continues to invest heavily in them and to use them successfully in its excellent QD OLED panels for televisions and monitors. In the specific high-end LCD segment, competition will now focus on classic Mini LED, and then very soon on the promising Micro RGB technology (Mini LED-type RGB backlighting but with smaller diodes). In the longer term, the real revolution will come from EL QD (or NanoLED), a groundbreaking technology in which quantum dots directly convert electrical energy into light, without any backlighting system. The ultimate realization of what the term QLED originally promised.

 

The remaining 2026 QLED and Neo QLED ranges will continue to be sold until global stocks are gradually sold through. No specific pricing announcement has been made at this time.