The future of high-end TVs just took another small step towards us. Micro-LED will be the next big technology after OLED and mini-LED TVs, because it delivers all the brightness of LED TVs, but with the per-pixel lighting and contrast of OLED. The best of both worlds… as soon as actual TVs make it into people's homes.
Originally, Samsung announced its plans to bring this tech at sizes starting from 76 inches, but only managed to launch one at 110 inches. Then we got word that sizes as small as 76 inches are a few years away at least.
However, we then heard that Samsung still planned to get an 89-inch version into production in 2022, which may not be a size the majority of us are looking for, but would be an important sign that progress is being made. And now The Elec reports that Samsung has pulled this off – that an 89-inch microLED 4K TV is under production right now.
This would put it on course for a 2023 launch – we expect that Samsung will announce it at CES 2023, alongside its next-gen mini-LED TVs… and perhaps even the cheaper OLED TVs that reportedly got kicked from 2022's line-up.
According to The Elec, Samsung is not moving ahead with production of the 101-inch model it reportedly also planned to launch, at least not yet.
There's no word on the final price of this TV, but don't expect it be remotely affordable for us mere mortals, despite the improvements in production. The original given price for the 89-inch model was around $80,000, so even if Samsung has made further cost-saving strides, it's still going to cost around the same as a Mercedes CLS.
90-inch TVs are the new 75-inch TVs
All this talk of 89- to 100-inch TVs sounds a bit ambitious even before you get to the price of the micro-LED TV, but very large TVs seem to be the hot ticket right now. LG just launched its first 97-inch OLED TV right alongside Samsung launching a new 98-inch TV that's its brightest ever, for example.
Meanwhile, the best 75-inch TVs are growing more and more in popularity – a size that used to feel like it was only for millionaires is now something lots of people with an empty wall and home theater obsession are buying. We expect our guide to the best Black Friday 75-inch TV deals to be one of the biggest this year, because the TV companies have seen which way the wind is blowing too, and you can now find 75-inch TVs for comically low prices during sales events.
Which means that the people who want the biggest and best need something even bigger and better, right? So here we are in a world where 100-inch TVs are creeping in more, and we expect more in 2023.
The real question is whether Samsung will ever create a micro-LED that's as cool as the folding C SEED N1 TV, based on the same tech…
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