Samsung cuts OLED TV prices by 34%

Samsung has announced a large price cut on its curved OLED (organic light emitting diode) screens, citing increased manufacturing yields rather than weak demand.

According to a story in the Korea Times, Samsung has cut the price of a curved 55-inch OLED television from 15 million won ($14655) 9.9 million won (around $9672).

While both LG and Samsung have released the curved display technology to consumers in Korea, with the technology subsequently released in the US, Australian consumers have been forced to wait for a local release.

OLED displays can be made thinner than older LCD displays because they don’t need to be backlit.

The news comes at a difficult time in the television industry, with SmartCompany reporting last week of a global glut in LCD panels, forcing LG and Samsung to cut investments in China.

“The investment for our first LCD panel plant will be much lower than initially planned because of an unfavourable market situation… But it does not necessarily mean that we are losing interest in the market. We will expand investment again once the market rebounds,” an LG executive said.

With 40-inch and 42-inch display panels dropping in price by 15% in the two weeks to the end of July, Samsung cut production at its display plant in Suzhou from 100,000 sheets per month to 40,000.