While the primary reason behind the cut in production is the worsening profitability due to oversupply in the market, it is also seen as a pre-emptive move by the company to shift from LCDs to QD-OLED panels to boost its OLED business. Samsung already makes Quantum Dot (QD) panels for TVs and OLEDs for handhelds. With QD-OLED displays, the company plans to bring both of these technologies together to create a hybrid display.
Lee Dong-hoon, CEO of Samsung Display, has confirmed the efforts to launch QD-OLED displays in a comment to the publication but didn’t share any other details. While it’s not clear where these displays will be used when they materialize, the report points to TVs as a possible target. The company currently uses Quantum Dot LED panels for its TVs but has recently started shifting to Micro LED panels for its luxury offerings.
Although it was rumored that Samsung Display would invest around 10 trillion won ($8.3 billion) into commercializing QD-OLED, nothing has been confirmed so far. For now, the report says Samsung will repurpose the LCD line it is shutting down to make QD-OLED displays in the future.
