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- Samsung has unveiled a new 110-inch TV model with an advanced micro-LED screen.
- Micro LED is designed to compete with OLED, and can offer better image performance than any other panel type on the market.
- We had to check out the show during a special CES 2021 First Look event and the TV personally looks beautiful.
- See also: Samsung’s new 2021 4K and 8K TVs promise improved picture quality
Samsung has been showing massive Micro LED screens at CES for the past few years, but the impressive technology has not yet reached the consumer market. This year, however, the company intends to change that.
For the first time, Samsung is releasing 110-, 99- and 88-inch Micro LED 4K TVs. There is no word on prices or an exact release date, but the exhibitions will start before the end of 2021.
Micro LED promises significant improvements over other TV panel types, and it can even beat our current favorite TV technology, OLED. To help demonstrate what makes Micro LED so special, Samsung has invited Insider Reviews to a personalized CES 2021 First Look event.
The 110-inch micro-LED TV was available at the demonstration and the beautiful screen does not disappoint. However, it is important to note that Samsung has described the model as a prototype so that the screen can make a few more changes before it hits the market.
That said, based on what we’ve seen so far, Samsung’s Micro LED shows incredible promise, and the technology could very well become the future of TV. It’s not perfect, but the overall image quality is simply amazing.
Note: Samsung did not allow photos of the Micro LED TV during the CES event, so all photos included here are provided by the manufacturer.
Samsung
Micro LED is an advanced panel technology used for exhibitions. The technology is designed to compete with other popular TV types, such as LCD (often branded as LED or QLED) and OLED.
As the name suggests, micro-LED screens consist of millions of microscopic red, green and blue light emitting diodes. Micro-LEDs are self-free, so they can individually dim, brighten or turn off. This results in an infinite contrast ratio with true black levels and wide viewing angles – which is all where ordinary LCD TVs struggle.
Meanwhile, OLED TVs have a similar contrast, but the technology uses organic LEDs that can degrade over time. This leads to brightness limitations and the possibility of burn-in. However, since micro-LEDs are inorganic, Samsung says that they can be brighter and last longer than OLED TVs, with virtually no risk of burn-in.
In other words, Micro LED has the potential to combine everything OLED TVs love from home fans, while also offering similar brightness features as an LCD TV. In fact, it may be the best of both worlds.
Unlike regular TVs that use one panel, the micro-LED screens are actually made up of several tiles facing each other. This creates the potential for modular screens, where you can add, remove or move tiles to create different screen sizes and directions.
Samsung is offering a modular micro-LED display for business and luxury customers called ‘The Wall’, which has this capability. That said, the 110-, 99- and 88-inch micro-LED TVs made available in 2021 will have fixed configurations and will not be modular.
Samsung
For demo purposes, Samsung has set up a prototype of its 110-inch Micro LED TV in a dark room that displays a beautiful 4K HDR video.
As is typical with such demonstrations, the footage contained a beautiful array of colorful images, from shiny gems to high city spirits. It does not matter what is on the screen, with rich saturation, exact highlights and deep black levels that have disappeared into the room.
Samsung did not offer a specific number in nets, but to my eyes the peak brightness was very impressive and presented a more spicy image than I am used to seeing on a big screen. One scene with a starry sky over the mountains was particularly striking, as each star shone from the screen against blacks.
It’s the kind of infinite contrast I’ve never seen before on OLED TVs, but the HDR effect was even more pronounced. Viewing angles were also essentially perfect, with no real color or contrast issues when viewed from the side.
An LCD TV that is so large, even with advanced local eclipse, still shows signs of blooming, shattering or obliquely fading. An OLED will probably look equally impressive, but not as bright. The Micro LED was able to demonstrate all the benefits of both of these technologies, while there were no signs of their flaws. That said, pixels were visible when you put your face upright on the screen, but this is the case with any 4K TV as large.
Of course, demos like these provide only a limited picture of what a TV can do, and it’s important to remember that the model shown is still a prototype. At the end of the day, though, the experience just made me want more.
As impressive as Micro LED is, no display technology is perfect. We will have to devote more depth to a Micro LED TV to really evaluate it, but based on what we have seen so far, there is one small drawback that is already clear: seams are sometimes visible on the screen.
Since micro-LED TVs are built from different display tiles that are connected to each other, there are seams between each tile that create the appearance of a grid. Luckily these seams are very faint and during my demo time I found it very difficult to spot.
From a normal viewing distance and a centered angle, it is actually invisible. Only when the seams come very close to the screen or are viewed from an oblique angle to the screen do the seams come into view slightly. Even then, the seams usually appear only when certain colors appear on the screen. You can also watch them when the TV is off.
It’s too early to say how much factor it will be if you watch a micro-LED TV under normal viewing conditions, but I doubt it will be too much of a problem. Although LCD and OLED TVs do not have this particular problem, they do have their own uniformity which can be just as distracting.
Samsung has not yet announced US prices for its Micro LED TVs, but it can be said with certainty very expensive when they come on the market. New panel technology always has a premium and Micro LED is especially difficult to scale down to a consumer level.
According to ZDNet, the 110-inch Micro LED TV model in South Korea starts to win 170 million, which is about $ 156,000. A similar price is likely for the US.
The closest premium TV we can currently look at as a comparison is probably LG’s flagship 88-inch OLED 8K TV, which is currently selling for $ 30,000. Samsung’s Micro LED TV is 4K rather than 8K, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a similar, if not higher, price for the 88-inch model.
Samsung
Samsung’s Micro LED may very well be the future of TV, but like any display technology, it will not be perfect. Based on what I have seen so far, the advantages for image quality seem to outweigh the disadvantages.
The real question is how much does it ultimately cost. I expect this first wave of micro LEDs to be overpriced for ordinary buyers, but the 2021 series could help pave the way for more affordable micro LEDs in the (hopefully) not too distant future.