RGB OLED InkJet are getting closer and can shake up the television market

If nothing changes, In 2025, RGB OLED InkJet technology will arrive, which will join the already known W-OLED and QD-OLED. Thus, there will be three technologies available in the high-end television market and three manufacturers behind each of them. The competition is served and that will surely be the best news for us as users. Whether it is the race to achieve the best image quality or to adjust the sales price and gain a greater market share, having three companies in the running will always be welcome.

On the one hand we have LG and its technology W-OLED. Samsung and Sony with their QD-OLED in second place. And finally to the Chinese giant TCL and their long-awaited RGB OLED InkJet or IJP-OLED or InkJet printed RGB.

W-OLED and QD-OLED are well known, but perhaps TCL's move has gone unnoticed. Surely because what he did was the announcement of the announcement And at a marketing level it may work as a promotion but at a communication level, it has a very short life in the minds of the recipients.

And in different presentations in November and December 2023, Chinese manufacturer TCL announced that it will produce its first OLED inkjet displays, at the end of 2024 at the earliest, or more likely in 2025. And they added the tagline of “we will announce it.” It is important to note that they were referring to OLED televisions, not to the IT sector of tablets., mobile phone or a small screen on the refrigerator (the manufacturer already has its first mobile phones with this technology on the market).

The TCL strategy with the RGB OLED InkJet

Yes ok TCL does not plan to market Micro LED displays to the general public before 2030, due to its enormous costs, the Chinese firm intends to continue its conquest of the television market. To achieve this it is necessary to Continuous development of Mini LED technology with which the brand is experiencing notable commercial success, but also an entry into the OLED TV market segment starting in the mid-2020s (see photo below for details).

And for that you need money, a lot of money. In 2016, TCL CSOT (China Star Optoelectronics Technology) announced plans to invest RMB 46.5 billion ($6.9 billion at the time) to build the world's most advanced LCD production line and later a line for OLED TV panels. TCL's plans for advanced LCD production have materialized, placing the Chinese company in a consolidated position in the market.

Last year, TCL CSOT started production of OLED panels for mobile devices on its T4 line in Wuhan, China, with a monthly capacity of 15,000 panels. The company aims to produce 80 million mobile OLED panels per year. And as we are seeing in recent times, the strategy is clear: gain market share by offering a very good quality-price ratio.

Offer and RGB OLED InkJet models

So, as can be seen in the graphs that accompany this news, TCL's timeline is as follows: Mini LED on the market since approximately 2019, RGB OLED InkJet since 2025 and Micro LED in 2030. At least, that's their initial plan, put in writing and published.

And if the production costs of RGB OLED InkJet panels are estimated high at the beginning, Afterwards they should drop significantly. Specialists in the display industry estimate, for example, that the manufacturing cost of a 75/77″ (191/196 cm) RGB OLED InkJet panel will quickly be 33% cheaper than that of a 77-inch panel .

As for the depth of the RGB OLED InkJet range, The information revealed by TCL initially mentions the diagonals of 55 (140 cm), 65 (165 cm) and 75 (191 cm) inches for the upcoming T8 production line in Guangzhou, in addition to the T7 line mentioned in the same graphics and which could subsequently manufacture panels of 49 (124 cm) or 50 (127 cm) and 85 (216 cm) inches in a second temporary phase. Therefore, we would have TCL RGB OLED InkJet televisions from 42 to 98 inches, although this part of the forecast is surely the most volatile of all.

RGB OLED InkJet, the best display technology?

For TCL, the RGB OLED InkJet process brings together two main advantages compared to LG Display's White Oled and Samsung Display's Quantum Dots. with joy 'Ink-Jet Printed' Implemented in CSOT factories, three red, green and blue subpixels are used directly to represent an image, according to the principle of a substrate or base that guarantees very high colorimetric precision.

The first advantageon paper (never better said, because of printing) is that they would have more average and peak luminosity than W-OLEDs. But it should also improve the blue-based generation of Samsung's Quantum Dots, which still uses an intermediate chemical stimulus to reproduce other wavelengths derived from the main source.

An average brightness of 300 nits and 2,000 peak nits is predicted, along with a very favorable energy label. And we already know how important this is in the European Union to be able to market these models without limitations in these lands.

The second advantage It is also convincing: If we use direct RGB subpixel printing technology, the color space coverage should be wider; there are no intermediate layers or previous chemical stimuli. If we are talking about the latest generation of W-OLED panels remaining around 70% coverage of the REC 2020 and the QD OLEDs reaching 90%, at least, the RGB OLEDs should match this figure.

That last remaining 10% of coverage, which usually falls from the coordinates of pure green and its surroundings, is the most difficult to achieve and the field of improvement is in that direction. That's why, I wouldn't be surprised if these RGB OLED InkJet were the first to reach 95% coverage once the screen is calibrated. And that would be saying a lot, well. would become the technology with the most and best color volume From the market. The goal of any television that aspires to provide the best image quality on the planet.

Maybe not in its first generation of RGB OLED TV models, but yes in the following evolutions where these promising results are obtained, now with the maturity of the company developing this printing technology.

Weaknesses of RGB OLED InkJet

The printed RGB subpixels clearly give those two advantages, but they also raise some questions. For example: How will TCL minimize the effects of image retention? Having direct pixels that output many nits on their own (without the help of a white sub pixel like in W-OLEDs) sounds dangerous. We will have to wait to see what engineering methods they develop to minimize this defect.

Because, as we already know, respectively, the existing WOLED and QD-OLED panels are specifically designed to address the problem of degradation of organic components that leads to the common problem of “burn-in”, image retention and color uniformity problems.

Another factor to take into account and which is also One of the reasons why RGB OLED technology does not exist in consumer televisions is the heating of the panel. The more heat is generated, it leads to a faster degradation of the organic diodes responsible for the subpixels. And for the typical usage scenario of the everyday consumer (not a professional), this technology must prove durable in terms of panel life and longevity.

The forecast for next year (2025)

With all of the above, we can speculate that at the CES in January 2025 (in just eleven months!) we may be able to find these models:

• Samsung: would present his S95E with fourth generation QD-OLED technology. Probably more brightness and, hopefully, better pixels and color.
• LG: would evolve with its models BC-G5 with W-OLED technology, probably approaching the ceiling of this technology. They would add more brightness, and improvements in other aspects such as reflections, retention, etc.
• sony: would present your model A95Mafter the fallow of this 2024. Perhaps we will see a next-generation QD-OLED (probably the same one that Samsung mounts) with very powerful image processing, as is usual in the Japanese manufacturer.
• TCL: would release its first generation of RGB OLED InkJet medium size, perhaps with models in 55 or 65 inches.

The rest of the brands such as Panasonic, Phillips and others will probably evolve their products for the better but with the existing technology already in 2024. A very interesting future awaits us.

Sources | Avcaesar.com, FlatpanelsHD and TCL