LG’s Slim Screens Get Slimmer

For LG Display, the world’s largest maker of LCD screens, the future of television looks a lot thinner. The Korean company is betting big on screens powered by tiny organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Unlike LCDs, which rely on a separate light source behind the screen, OLEDs illuminate themselves, resulting in far slimmer and lighter displays. OLED TVs show deeper blacks and richer colors. “When you see one LCD and one OLED side by side, there’s definitely a 120 percent difference,” says Han Sang Beom, LG Display’s chief executive officer.

TVs as thin as smartphones are now possible, Han says. His company has invested $3 billion since 2010 in facilities that make OLEDs. The first televisions with the new screens are 55-, 65-, and 77-inch models made by LG Electronics, part of the same corporate family as LG Display. The 55-inch model retails for about $5,499; a comparably sized high-end LCD TV from Samsung Electronics costs $1,998.