Panasonic and Sony may lean a little further on the 3D technology of LG Electronics, as it is cheaper that Samsung's corresponding approach for 3D screens.
LG claims that its film-based 3D technology has clear advantages over rival Samsung's battery powered option, although arguments on technological competitiveness continue.
"Panasonic and Sony are planning to expand the lineup of 3D-enabled TVs this year. The key point is that their upcoming models will use LG's technology," said Nho Seok-ho, head of LG Electronics' LCD TV division in an interview with the Korea Times. "That's why we are sure to increase sales of 3D TVs this year," said the executive, the right-hand man of LG's TV chief Kwon Hee-won.
Panasonic and Sony were initially ready to adopt Samsung's technology but they've decided cut costs and improve their bottom lines by using the cheaper version.
Sony has been selling 32-inch and 42-inch 3D TV sets with film-patterned 3D technology in China since this year, while Panasonic is relying more on LG for 3D screens for several of its sets.
LG plans to add a 60-inch model to its 3D TV lineup of a 65- and 72-inch set in June to respond to consumer demand, according to the executive. The company's 55-inch OLED TV, which had been showcased at CES2012, is set also to be introduced within the first half of this year, priced at 8 million won ($7,080). LG believes that its "white OLED" technology adopted in its OLED TV is also cheaper to produce than Samsung's AMOLED technology, allowing the company to better compete with Samsung's pricing.
Samsung's AMOLED technology mainly uses low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) LCD as the backplane. However, for larger fabs, the company may consider working with oxide silicon backplanes as an intermediary step before new-generation low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) backplanes are available.
LGD's 55-inch AMOLED television panel uses a vertical white-OLED (WOLED) pixel structure with a color filter. The use of WOLEDs eliminates the need for an RGB mask, resulting in improved efficiencies and increasing the ease of making finer pitch pixels on the panel. However, this approach needs an additional color filter. The oxide silicon backplane of LGD's 55-inch TV likely will be manufactured at LGD's existing eighth-generation a-Si LCD fab.
