Not exactly computer hardware related, but pretty big news in television land. We hated that Samsung had dropped OLED from the line-up, leaving only LG with OLED technology for UHD televisions. As it turns out, Sony is now jumping on that bandwagon as well.
John Archer over at Forbes claims to have the final confirmation that Sony will indeed be rolling out not one but two OLED TVs in 2017:
The confirmation comes from Barry Young, CEO of the Austin, Texas-based OLED Association - and the information he provided goes much further than merely confirming the launch of two Sony OLED TV models.
For starters, Young reveals that Sony will be providing OLED TVs in 55-inch and 65-inch versions, and that panel shipments will start from the second quarter of 2017 ahead of sales expected to begin in the third or fourth quarter.
This timescale raises doubts as to whether the TVs will make their debut at the imminent CES in January as suggested by the ETNews article I referenced in my previous story. In other respects, however, the information passed on by the OLED Association backs up the November ETNews report. Young reports that Sony is anticipating shipping 80,000 55-inch 4K OLED TVs, and 120,000 65-inch 4K OLED TVs. These figures suggest Sony isn’t expecting particularly bumper sales for its first big-screen OLED TVs, but believes that the 65-inch model will be more successful than the 55-inch one. This is intriguing, as to my knowledge it runs counter to the sales pattern LG has enjoyed with its OLED TVs, where the 55-inch screens are the biggest sellers.
The single most eye-catching piece of information Young provides on the Sony OLED TVs, though, is their price. He reports that they are expected to retail for $1,999 for the 55-inch model and $2,999 for the 65-inch model.
If these prices prove correct, they point to Sony taking a more ‘mass market’ approach to OLED than Panasonic did with its only OLED TV release to date, the outstanding but eye-wateringly expensive 65CZ950.
Given that Sony’s OLED TVs are being built using panels from LG Display, the Sony prices also perhaps give us an indication that we may see a more aggressive pricing strategy from LG Electronics with its 2017 OLED TVs than we saw in 2016.
Hopefully I’ll be able to bring you more details on this as well as a first glimpse of Sony’s OLED screens when the 2017 CES opens its doors in Las Vegas from January 4th.
Sony OLED TVs Definitely Launching In 2017
