Sharp has new OLED TVs on the way, even as other players leave the market
Another major TV brand is embracing OLED
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Sharp is getting into theOLED TVbusiness, according to a report fromNikkei Asian Reviewwhich says the electronics company is on the cusp of releasing its own range ofOLEDsets containingLG-made panels.
With plans to offerOLEDdisplays in55-inchand65-inchsizes, at a rather premium starting price of 300,000 yen (around $2,700 / £2,100 / AU$4,000), Sharp looks set to join the big players in the OLED market, with reports suggesting that these televisions could be on the market as soon as March/April.
The JapaneseTV brandwas the biggest seller of televisions in its home nation in 2018, though the past year saw it slip to third place behind two other Japanese manufacturers:PanasonicandSony, both of which use OLED panels in their high-end sets.It’s interesting to see Sharp betting on OLED in a bid to reverse that slide, not long after Chinese manufacturerHisense announced it was ditching the technologyin favor of its own proprietary DuelCell LCD panels.
But Sharp isn’t the only new OLED player in town, either, with both Xiaomi andVizio recently announcing their intentionto embrace the tech.
A cautionary tale
The move into OLED could be potentially lucrative, given the growth of the technology worldwide – although Sharp is generally known as a budget manufacturer, and may encounter the same obstacles as other companies if it tries producing these displays too cheaply down the line.
The budget-pricedHisenseO8B OLED suffered from a buggy smart platform and inconsistent viewing quality, and we’re wary of seeing Sharp face similar issues.
Technically this isn’t Sharp’s first foray into OLED – it showed off a 30-inchrollable OLED model last year, and various reports over the last couple of years have suggested it was looking to produce conventional OLED sets. But the reliance on LG’s larger-scale panels shows a shift in direction.
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Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.
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