These beautiful installations are OLED matrices. But LG is more and more bold with its successor

LG is using it as perhaps the fact of being the only company in the world that is able to massively produce large size OLED matrices. However, a race is underway which this company can lose.

OLED technology is certainly not perfect, but it offers a lot of advantages that currently are unattainable for LCD matrices. And they will probably never be. OLED displays are much thinner than LCDs because they do not contain additional lighting lamps necessary for the operation of a competitive solution. They can also be formed into any shape, which is very difficult for liquid crystal matrices. And finally, they offer contrast in a somewhat simplistic way described as perfect.

The production of OLED displays, however, is difficult and complicated. And just as they are quite common in small sizes - most of the higher-end phones have such a display - so when it comes to larger matrices, such as television, only LG Display has such on offer. And it derives huge benefits from this monopoly.

Almost every TV manufacturer, including LG itself, uses OLED matrices in its flagship models. No more choice. And the Korean giant itself is also doing very well in the signage market, offering plastic OLEDs that allow for creative and effective advertising installations. In this transparent. This text is decorated with photos of the LG stand from InfoComm, it is not difficult to understand why these products are of interest. But I did not bring you here to bring up panels for the advertising market. There was something much better at the LG booth.

Micro LED panels in theory offer the same advantages as OLED, but without the disadvantages of organic technology.

I used the phrase "in theory" purely belaying, because so far no one from the media was able to verify the manufacturers' declarations. Micro LED, however, like OLED, does not require external lighting. So it offers exactly the same level of infinite contrast and can be very slim at the same time. It also deals with the problems of OLED matrixes.

And these, as I have already mentioned, are not perfect. Devices with OLEDs must use clever software tricks to prevent the permanent display of a static image on the matrix. They are rather effective, but in other solutions you do not have to fight such problems. In addition, OLED matrices are relatively dark, LCDs and supposedly Micro LEDs can shine much brighter.

There is a snag in all of this. Not for us, because we only use it, but for LG. Unlike OLED, Micro LED is a technique developed by the direct competitors of the Korean manufacturer. And if one assesses the level of advancement of works on Micro LEDs by an illusive measure of media exposure, one can get the impression that Samsung is the closest to introducing Micro LEDs to ordinary people.

Maybe I will over-interpret it, but I consider the display of Micro LEDs by LG as a kind of manifesto.

At the InfoComm 2019, the LG Micro LED panel was presented for the first time in the world. The LG Micro LED matrix, the future of digital information and advertising devices, is made of microscopic LEDs creating individually controlled pixels, allowing for precise reproduction of image details. The diameter of individual LEDs is less than 50 micrometers, which is comparable to the size of dust particles or half the thickness of a human hair. - quoting a press release sent to us by the Polish branch of LG. It's a very well-arranged message if you load it in it.

Micro LED "is the future of digital information and advertising devices". Future and digital-advertising. Why can not we talk about it now? And why only information and advertising? The answer seems to be simple: OLED times, if the promise behind the Micro LED is not a dream, they are coming to an end. Probably, however, this will not happen for a few years.

LG must therefore satisfy both investors who demand to maximize profits from the sale of unique OLEDs, as well as those pointing to Samsung and the rest of the competition, which is slowly and boldly introducing Micro LED prototype TV sets on various occasions. It must be shown that LG is not lagging behind the competition and is still innovative.

A play of lights and shadows. For now, everything will be the same.

Journalists have stopped asking manufacturers about the level of advancement of work on the introduction of Micro LEDs for relatively mass production. We got bored of it because we have been receiving the same evasive answers for years. We know that they work. We know that affluent and important partners can even obtain a device with such a panel.

For now, however, we do not even know if Micro LED actually fulfills its promise and whether there are any hidden, hard to eliminate flaws. That there is nothing to talk about the release date of the first mass product from Micro LED. It worries me, because as I am a huge enthusiast of using OLED matrixes in high-end TVs, I am so impressed by the fact that almost all manufacturers are addicted to LG Display.

Diversity and competitiveness are always the greatest benefit for us consumers. LG will certainly wait for the introduction of its Micro LED on the mass market - assuming that it will be ready for it at all - certainly until the last minute, until the company forces the market to do so. That we would spend money for OLEDs as long as possible. If this example does not illustrate why we always lose on monopoly, I probably will not come up with a better one.

These beautiful installations are OLED matrices. But LG is more and more bold with its successor