QD OLED vs OLED

The situation with Samsung OLED TVs is quite interesting. If you open Samsung’s website in the U.S. and look for OLED TVs, the description will say that it is an OLED TV (S95B OLED 4K Smart TV. (2022)). However, if you open Samsung’s website in the U.K., you will see QD OLED (S95B QD OLED 4K Quantum HDR Smart TV.). One would think, how is that? Does Samsung use different displays for its T.V.s in the U.S. and U.K.? And by the way, Samsung T.V.s in Australia are just OLED. Of course not. The T.V.s have displays made by Samsung, the OLED panel factory for T.V.s is in Asan, Chungcheong Namdo, Korea, and it began producing OLED panels in late 2021. Samsung has decided to go further and modernize its production. The company’s management has decided to stop making large LCD panels and switch to OLED panel production.

LG OLED TV vs Samsung OLED TV

Is there a difference between Samsung and LG OLED displays or as many prefer to call QD OLED vs OLED. In terms of performance and technology application they are very similar OLED panels. If you look at the specifications, yes, there are differences, and now I will tell you what they are.

The principle of construction of the OLED panel from LG and Samsung are the same. There is a substrate on which the organic LEDs are placed, they are single color, followed by a layer of filters, which pass the light flux of only one color for a particular sub-pixel. All such filters allow only three colors, red, green and blue. All large OLED panels use this principle.

Differences between the OLED displays of Samsung and LG TVs

• The first difference is in the arrangement of subpixels: LG OLED panels use 4 subpixels (red, blue, green, white). This is done to increase the life of the OLED panel. LG never includes all sub pixels at the same time, if you want to create white, only the white pixels will be included. The pixels are arranged in a single line. Samsung only uses three subpixels (red, blue, green) and they are arranged in a triangle shape. In the picture below, I compared LG’s OLED pixels and Samsung’s OLED pixels.
• The second difference, according to Samsung, is the use of blue OLEDs as backlighting, which is kind of better than white LEDs. But I think it’s more likely that Samsung’s OLEDs are white and use an extra blue filter. Blue OLEDs have the shortest lifespan. Samsung has even applied for a trademark registration for QD-OLED POWERED BY QUANTUM BLUE.
• The third difference is the use of a color filter in Samsung’s OLEDs made with quantum dots. But such materials are used by all display manufacturers. Quantum dots are the commercial name for materials developed for use in various light filters with high light transmission in a certain range. For example, take a brown beer bottle and look through it at a light source. You will see that about half of the luminous flux is lost as it passes through the glass. If you look at car headlights, they let about 80 percent of the light through. The new materials used in displays let in about 95-98 percent of the light in the right range (red, blue, green). Therefore, such TVs have increased brightness and good contrast.

LG OLED and Samsung OLED aging

You should know that OLED TVs tend to age, OLED TVs have a lifespan of about 15,000 hours, which is about 1.5 years of constant TV use. Although I reread Samsung’s OLED manual and found no mention of the TV’s lifespan. I determined 15,000 hours based on feedback from TV owners and the practice of using sample TVs in stores. So at home, an OLED TV will last you about 4-7 years depending on the intensity of use. But, as I have encountered feedback from store employees, if an OLED TV works in the store as a show sample, it shows signs of screen burn-in after a year.

Why OLED displays are aging (burn-in)

OLEDs emit light when voltage is applied, when voltage is applied to the OLED, physical processes occur in it and it begins to emit light in the visible spectrum. But at this time, chemical processes occur in the LED, destroying the LED. After a while the LED begins to lose the intensity of luminescence, the higher the applied voltage, the faster OLED material degrades and loses its properties.

Which brands use Samsung QD OLED TV displays?

Until 2022, LG was the only supplier of large OLED panels for TVs. In 2022, Samsung returned to the market with an OLED TV, yes, that’s right, Samsung’s first OLED TV was introduced in 2013. An agreement was reached with SONY, starting in 2022, Sony TVs will also come with OLED panels from Samsung.