Our colleagues from the Korean daily The Elec indicated last month that the two consumer electronics groups had resumed their discussions and it wouldn't be long before we saw the Woled technology ( White Oled) signed LG Display, from 2024 (see our news Negotiations TV Oled Samsung / LG Display, here we go again with 2024 in sight).
LG and Samsung forced to unite to counter the Chinese
The online daily The Elec then specified: “The resumption of discussions between LG and Samsung has a lot to do with the evolution of the global display market. Since Samsung Display stopped the production of LCD TV panels, Samsung Electronics is now dependent on Chinese manufacturers for the supply of almost its entire TV range (Editor's note: Samsung manufactures its QD Oled panels for its three TV series Samsung S95B, Samsung S95C and Samsung C90C, only), a situation that is unfavorable to him. A partnership with LG Display, in addition to diversifying its suppliers, would allow Samsung to better negotiate its purchase prices with Chinese manufacturers. Likewise, such a contract would allow LG Display to recover after several years in the red, operating losses for 2022 exceeding $1.5 billion, and further losses expected for the first quarter of 2023”. In short, a win/win agreement.
LG Display, survival at stake?
So it's done according to the Reuters news agency, which got the information from three different sources. The latter have also specified to the agency that the delivery of White Oled TV panels to Samsung would mainly consist of 77 '' (196 cm) and 83 '' (210 cm) slabs. With this agreement, Samsung will quickly become the second seller of Oled TVs in the world, taking this place from Sony. For LG Display, this contract for 2 million White Oled TV panels, representing approximately 25% of the Korean manufacturer's capacity and worth at least $1.5 billion (equivalent to losses for the year 2022), will allow it to recover profitability after a catastrophic year 2022 and a history, more generally, very turbulent. Some Asian analysts even say that this agreement with Samsung Electronics ensures the survival of the Korean manufacturer after a result in the first quarter of 2023 significantly worse than expected. Jeff Kim, an analyst at KB Securities says, "LG's production rate will improve and should reach full capacity next year, helping it lay the groundwork for a return to profit."
, TV Woled Samsung, mid-range models
Via this agreement, Samsung, leader of the TV market for the 17th consecutive year (see our news TV Market 2022: Samsung world leader for the 17th consecutive year…), will therefore be able to offer Woled televisions from 2024 or even a few models at the end of 2023 (to be confirmed). Namely, these will be positioned as mid/high-end models, just below the brand's QD Oled series.
