DailyTech - Samsung Officially Spins Off LCD Business

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Gadgets Samsung Officially Spins Off LCD Business
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - February 20, 2012 10:06 AM

17 comment(s) - last by wind79.. on Feb 20 at 9:57 PM

The company will be called Samsung Display Co Ltd

Samsung has announced today that its board of directors has approved the spinoff of Samsung's LCD arm. The new company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Samsung also notes that moving forward, the new LCD company it has created will consider other restructuring measures such as a merger was Samsung Mobile Display and S-LCD Corporation.

This move comes at a time when profits are slipping significantly in LCD market. Samsung has been increasingly losing money on LCD screens even though it's the world's largest maker TVs. Samsung will shift its focus to new OLED panels moving forward, which are growing significantly and generating much larger profits.

Research company DisplaySearch estimates the global sales of LCD TVs are going to shrink by 8% to about $92 billion by 2015. At the same time, that OLED market is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2018 and make up 16% of the total display market. Today, OLED panels make up only 4% of the market.

The Samsung LCD spinoff is expected to be called Samsung Display Co Ltd and will be launched as new business on April 1. The company will have 750 billion won in capital according to Samsung. Samsung is positioned well in the OLED market with its Samsung Mobile Display providing almost all the OLED panels available. Samsung notes that the spinoff is still subject to regulators and the approval of shareholders.

In December of 2011, Sony split from the LCD joint venture it operated with Samsung due to poor profits. Other LCD manufacturers like Sharp have significantly reduced LCD output. Three of the top firms in LCD market -- Panasonic, Sony, and Sharp -- are together expected to lose $17 billion this year alone.

Sources: Samsung, Reuters

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OLED

By Goty on 2/20/2012 10:55:36 AM , Rating: 2

As long as I can still replace my TV and Computer monitor with OLED panels in the next five years or so, I'm happy.

RE: OLED

By danjw1 on 2/20/2012 11:02:31 AM , Rating: 2

This is foolishness. OLED have not scaled, yet. They still are only making relatively small ones. Anyone who predicts that they will take off at any particular point is working without a safety rope. :-) If the industry can get working displays that are larger, then this may happen. Otherwise, forget about it. It just jumps to a conclusion that currently doesn't have much of a factual basis.

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RE: OLED

By jnemesh on 2/20/2012 11:15:19 AM , Rating: 2

You may want to read about what was shown at this year's CES in January! Both Samsung and LG were showing 55" OLED panels that will be available for sale late spring or early summer of this year.

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RE: OLED

By BansheeX on 2/20/2012 11:39:12 AM , Rating: 2

And yet if I don't an OLED computer monitor in the next 5 years, I'm going to go insane. LCD, regardless of the panel type, has so many irresolvable problems, it's ridiculous.

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RE: OLED

By bug77 on 2/20/2012 11:23:51 AM , Rating: 4

OLED still has major hurdles to overcome. First, they can't be made big enough, because of dead pixel issues. Second, their life span is not so great. The colors tend to change over the display's lifetime.
Traditional LCD will remain the workhorse of displays for quite a while.

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RE: OLED

By B3an on 2/20/2012 12:06:34 PM , Rating: 2

That stuff might have been true a few years ago but most of it isn't anymore. There was also 50+" OLED TV's at CES.

The main issue i have with OLED is that colour reproduction isn't as accurate as IPS LCD, even though the colours are more vibrant and generally look better to most people theyre not as accurate. But i'm sure this will be fixed.

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RE: OLED

By bug77 on 2/20/2012 12:46:42 PM , Rating: 3

There's always been a large OLED display at CES. That doesn't mean the 50" OLED TV for $1000 will hit your living room anytime soon.

One showcase panel does nothing to address any of the problems I have listed. And there are more, check wikipedia.

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RE: OLED

By Goty on 2/20/2012 12:59:45 PM , Rating: 3

There were many OLED panels on display from multiple vendoras with plans to come to market at the usual high-end TV prices, not just one or two one-off displays to say "look what I can do!"

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RE: OLED

By TSS on 2/20/2012 7:43:20 PM , Rating: 2

While that very well may be, OLED is still in a stage where LCD was when the response time was still ~25 ms. Only here, it's longevity.

It'll be another decade before we'd see OLED take over LCD like LCD took over CRT. I won't dare speak of past 2020 though, by then it should be coming along nicely....

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RE: OLED

By FaceMaster on 2/20/2012 1:09:48 PM , Rating: 2

How are dead pixels a problem? They make phones and stuff like that with the same resolution as computer monitors, surely it won't affect larger monitors any more than smaller ones? In fact, wouldn't 'larger' pixels make them more reliable?

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RE: OLED

By Reclaimer77 on 2/20/2012 3:38:10 PM , Rating: 2

Plasma TV's had dead pixel problems, burn in problems, and all kinds of other problems. Their lifespan still isn't "that great" compared to LCD's either. That didn't stop them from coming to the market and selling millions of units did it?

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RE: OLED

By althaz on 2/20/2012 8:45:01 PM , Rating: 2

There will be a 55" OLED in your local electrical retailer (if they are of any sort of size) this summer. It will retail for around the $7k mark :). APPARENTLY the colour issues are fixed and overall lifespan of the panel is still WELL beyond how long your average TV will last (7ish years is normal life for a TV).

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iPad correlation?

By GeekWithFire on 2/20/2012 10:52:51 AM , Rating: 2

Is Sammy still producing displays for Apple's iPad? If so, is there any correlation to this spin off and the recent legal issues between Sammy and Apple?

RE: iPad correlation?

By bug77 on 2/20/2012 10:56:04 AM , Rating: 2

Yes, the whole universe is about Apple, no doubt about that.

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RE: iPad correlation?

By amanojaku on 2/20/2012 11:10:50 AM , Rating: 3

quote:
Is Sammy still producing displays for Apple's iPad?

No, I believe LG has that business now.

quote:
If so, is there any correlation to this spin off and the recent legal issues between Sammy and Apple?

No, as per paragraph 2:

quote:
Samsung has been increasingly losing money on LCD screens even though it's the world's largest maker (of) TVs. Samsung will shift its focus to new OLED panels moving forward, which are growing significantly and generating much larger profits.

The article doesn't include another bit of relevant information, which is pressure from Chinese LCD makers. Either way, LCD is giving way to OLED.

http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-elec-says-spin-off-l...

Since you mentioned the iPad, here's a short, but interesting, article about US tablet owners.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-ipad-owners-tend-older-mo...

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The good news is

By Ramtech on 2/20/2012 4:11:54 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
This move comes at a time when profits are slipping significantly in LCD market. Samsung has been increasingly losing money on LCD screens even though it's the world's largest maker TVs

Now they will be forced to push OLEDs unless they are planning to move their manufacturing plants to Thailand