LAS VEGAS—Samsung has arrived at CES with some very big TVs powered by very small lights. The company today unveiled several new MicroLED TVs, including new, commercial versions of The Wall and the modular, scalable The Window.
MicroLED is Samsung's new display technology, based on a heavily miniaturized version of RGB light-emitting diode (LED) arrays used in very large commercial displays. MicroLED displays have very small LEDs for each pixel; they individually illuminate based on the light and color that pixel needs to display.
It's fundamentally separate from LED-backlit LCD TVs, which use LEDs to light a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel that produces the picture. It functions similarly to the now well-established and still-expensive organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology used in flagship TVs from LG and Sony, but is chemically and mechanically distinct. OLED panels must be manufactured in complete sections like LCD panels and are unfeasible to manufacture in very large sizes, while MicroLED modules can be scaled and assembled in sections to support much bigger screens.
Samsung first showed off MicroLEDs at last year's CES with The Wall, a 146-inch TV. It was technically impressive and showed a great deal of potential, but it has yet to be commercially released. New versions of The Wall are 219 inches and 75 inches. They're joined by The Window, a modular commercial MicroLED display that can be built in a variety of sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios.
For home theaters, Samsung unveiled a 75-inch consumer MicroLED TV, currently just called the "4K MicroLED TV." This TV will feature the same 4K resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio of Samsung's QLED and other LCD TVs, but use the same modular MicroLED technology as the commercial version of The Wall and The Window.
While MicroLED has a lot of potential, the next big step in TV technology will likely come in resolution, not panel design. 8K (7,680 by 4,320) is a new display resolution that will finally see commercial release in 2019 after several years of concept and early design.
Samsung already announced the 85-inch 8K Q900FN TV QLED as part of its flagship LCD TV line last year, and just revealed an even bigger 98-inch version here at CES.
Samsung has not yet announced pricing or availability for any of its upcoming TVs.