The Unstoppable Rise Of LG TVs (There's No Catching Up)

About this video

• Video Title: The Unstoppable Rise Of LG TVs (There's No Catching Up)
• Channel: Logically Answered
• Speakers: Not specified in the transcript.
• Duration: 00:14:50

Overview

This video details LG's long and challenging journey to dominate the OLED TV market. It explains how, despite initial skepticism and significant technical hurdles, LG invested heavily in OLED technology while competitors focused on LCD. The video highlights LG's breakthroughs in manufacturing, marketing, and product development, ultimately leading to their market dominance and making it nearly impossible for competitors to catch up.

Key takeaways

• Early OLED Challenges: In the early 2010s, OLED technology was considered too fragile, expensive, and difficult to scale for large televisions, leading most companies to abandon it.
• LG's Commitment: LG uniquely saw OLED's potential for superior picture quality and invested billions in research and development, acquiring patents and focusing on this technology as their future.
• Manufacturing Hurdles: LG faced immense difficulties in manufacturing large OLED panels, with high defect rates and costs. Key breakthroughs included the WRGB approach (adding a white pixel) and the development of a precise evaporation process for depositing organic materials.
• Market Entry and Competition: LG's first OLED TVs were extremely expensive ($15,000). Competitors like Samsung aggressively marketed their QLED technology, emphasizing brightness to counter OLED's perfect blacks and contrast, though QLED remained fundamentally limited by LCD technology.
• Turning Point and Dominance: The launch of the LG C7 OLED in 2017, offering better performance at a more accessible price point (under $3,000), combined with increasing consumer demand for high-quality home entertainment, marked a turning point. By 2021, OLED TV sales had surged, and by 2023, even Samsung began using LG Display's OLED panels, solidifying LG's dominant position in the premium TV market.