Samsung may join hands with LG to promote large-size OLED for profit

Competition is only a means, making money is the core. For all home appliance companies, whether they are foreign brands or local giants, competition is only a means, and the ultimate goal must be to maximize profits. From this perspective, it is only a matter of time before Samsung and LG form an alliance in large-panel OLED.

Samsung and LG, two Korean consumer electronics giants who are arch-rivals, recently broke the unspoken rule of non-cooperation for decades in TV LCD panels and finally reached a procurement cooperation relationship. This move is also believed by the outside world that the two sides are expected to continue to reach a deeper cooperation in large-screen organic EL panels (OLED), thereby jointly promoting the market application of OLED panels in TVs and breaking the "fatal weakness" of the current single global supplier of OLED TV panels.

The author believes that under the current complex and ever-changing business background and competitive landscape of the global color TV market, Samsung and LG have a very high commercial probability of cooperating to promote the application and popularization of OLED panels in large-screen markets such as TVs. On the one hand, it is the need for sustainable development within the enterprise and the need to find new business fulcrums. Now the commercial explosion of OLED screens on mobile phones has made Samsung taste the sweetness; on the other hand, in order to cope with fierce and complex external competition, it is necessary to break the routine and embark on a new track. With LG's continued promotion of the application of OLED panels on TVs, a round of marketization has emerged, and Samsung cannot sit idly by.

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Although Samsung is currently promoting quantum dot LCD TVs and has announced that it will give up its short-term plan to develop OLED TVs, LG continues to promote the commercialization of OLED TV panels, while attracting participation from Chinese and foreign companies including Sony, Panasonic, Skyworth, Changhong, and Konka. However, facing the fact that the profit of organic EL panels is several times higher than that of LCD panels, and the demand for continuous upgrading and iteration of display technology, Samsung, as a giant in LCD panels, must either secretly increase the research and development and production of large OLED panels or promote quantum dot electroluminescence as soon as possible if it wants to avoid being eliminated by the times. Simply extending the market life of LCD panels is only a stopgap measure.

In fact, Samsung is no stranger to OLED panels. It is currently the world's largest supplier of small and medium-sized OLED panels. There are two reasons why it has not entered the OLED panel TV market in the short term: First, Samsung is in the investment and output period for the development of small and medium-sized OLED panels, and has no energy to take care of large-sized OLED panels; second, there are still technical difficulties in large-sized OLED panels, and the stability and reliability of its products still need time to accumulate and settle. Although Samsung has publicly announced that it will not launch OLED TVs, its technological innovation for large-sized OLED panels has been ongoing. I believe that once the technical difficulties of large-screen OLED panels are effectively solved, Samsung will soon switch to this field and form a dual-leading pattern with LG.

At the same time, Samsung and LG are currently facing the aggressive and strong attack from the Chinese army in the two major markets of LCD panels and color TV sets. The Chinese army, composed of Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, AOC, Changhong and Haier, is forming a positive offensive against Korean brands in the color TV set market by "snatching market share from Japanese companies". Companies represented by AUO, Innolux, BOE and CSOT are posing a threat to the Korean army in the upstream LCD display panel market; with Foxconn's acquisition of Sharp, the chaos in the global LCD panel industry chain and the downstream LCD TV market structure has been stirred up.

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At present, China has formed a game pattern of direct competition with the two Korean giants in LCD panels and TV sets, and they are evenly matched. As a result, Samsung and LG have to worry: on the one hand, they cannot give up the investment and return of the LCD display industry chain immediately due to their own long industrial chain; on the other hand, they must find breakthroughs in the next generation of display technology due to sustainable development. The current situation of LG and Samsung disagreeing on large-screen OLED panels is definitely not conducive to ensuring the leading advantage of Korean companies in the next generation of display technology.

Over the past few years, the South Korean government and commercial capital have been trying to persuade Samsung and LG to cooperate deeply in certain areas. However, due to the fact that both parties are the first and second in the world in LCD panels, cooperation can easily lead to unfair competition under the monopoly pattern. However, technical cooperation on large-screen OLED panels and joint market promotion can accelerate the market application and promotion of this product.

For Samsung and LG, whether it is due to internal corporate development or external competition, it is the best policy to reach a cooperative consensus on large-screen OLED panels as soon as possible and jointly promote the commercialization and marketization of large-screen OLED display panels. Of course, this must be based on the commercial prospects of large-screen OLED display panels and withstand the test of the market. Otherwise, it is destined to be a game of "drawing water with a bamboo basket"!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.