A concept image shows 'LG SIGNATURE OLED TV', LG's latest flagship TV model. [Courtesy of LG Electronics]
Buoyed by brisk sales, the panel-making unit LG Electronics launched a counterattack against a strategic dis campaign by domestic rival Samsung Electronics, describing its OLED technology as "a game changer" for global display and TV markets.
LG Display's third-quarter net profit jumped 152 percent on-year to 477.2 billion won (422 million US dollars). Operating profit soared 81 percent to 586 billion won, and sales rose 3.7 percent to 6.97 trillion won.
The good third-quarter performance reflects the expansion of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) TVs, the company said. "The display market was stagnant, but LG Display has increased OLED TV panel shipments," it said in an English statement.
LG Display's report on third-quarter earnings followed Samsung's conspicuous dis campaign aimed at promoting QLED, which uses quantum-dot technology for high-end liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
For months, Samsung has embarked on aggressive marketing to differentiate itself from other rivals such as LG which mainly sells OLED TVs. This week, Samsung claimed through its online news blog that QLED displays show no "Burn-in" syndrome, referring to afterimages which are literally branded onto OLED panels when stationary images are continuously displayed for a long time.
In a symposium on Tuesday in Munich, Germany, LG Display President Yeo Sang-deog said the European market would be a critical battleground for premium TVs. "Europe offers the optimal conditions for OLED expansion, given that it has a high acceptance rate of new technologies and a high premium market portion in all industries."
Without mentioning Samsung, LG Display said in a statement published on its website that OLED is a game changer for the future display industry as well as the future TV market.
"The proportion of customers adopting OLEDs worldwide and the number of OLED products will increase more rapidly in the future," Lee Sang-hoon, head of LG Display's TV sales and marketing division, was quoted as saying.
He said LG Display would expand OLED panel production from 1.7 million units in 2017 to 2.5 million units in 2018.“With preparations for a strong OLED TV surge in place, we will work closely with our European partners to aggressively push the OLED message."
Samsung argued that QLED is far superior to OLED as display devices used for a long time are prone to burn-in. "This is why OLED panels are not used in gaming monitors."
The world's largest smartphone producer stressed that QLED panels would maintain its color reproduction range for a long time because it's made with inorganic materials while OLED displays lose brightness.
LG Display hit back, saying OLED TVs have consistently won top marks and rankings in quality and performance evaluations conducted in Britain, Germany, France, North America and elsewhere.
Compared to LCD, which needs to maximize luminance to achieve sharp image quality, LG Display said OLED can achieve the best picture quality with relatively low luminance thanks to its ability to deliver perfect blacks. "OLED is human-friendly as it is less stressful to the eye than LCD thanks to its lesser emission of blue light."
OLED offers infinite possibilities as it can be slim, transparent, rollable, and foldable, LG Display said in its statement. "What's more, OLED is easier on human eyes than LCD, even at high level of luminance, resulting in lower eye fatigue than LCD displays."
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