After a lot of buzz around Samsung’s entry into the Micro LED TVs segment, a number of trademarks have appeared online substantiating previous reports. Samsung itself showed off a Mini LED TV at CES 2020 along with a zero bezel TV and an 8K QLED TV. Recent reports from Trend Force also solidified rumours when it put out a detailed report regarding Samsung’s Mini LED TVs. Now, we have two trademarks, one registered in Australia, the other in Samsung’s home land S. Korea for the designation ‘Samsung Quantum Mini LED’.
As can be seen from the images, the trademarks are pretty self-explanatory and they have been filed this month itself indicating this as a fresh development. Mini LED technology is basically speaking the same as a conventional LED LCD panel that uses mini LED backlighting. And as the name implies, these LED backlights are mini, hence much more (think of a few thousand instead of hundreds) can be installed. This results in a higher image quality, in the form of improved brightness and contrast and better HDR performance. Contrast ratios in Mini LEDs increases to 1,000,000:1, which is significantly higher than 10,000:1 that the current-generation TVs. In addition, Mini LEDs are also extra power-efficient.
Mini LEDs area also more cost-effective than traditional LCDs which explains Samsung recent pivot to this technology. However, chips supporting the tech look to be in the testing/sampling stage as Apex, Epistar, FitTech, Macroblock, San’an Optoelectronics, and Saultech are currently racing to do the same. Eventually, some of these will supply their chips to Samsung.
Considering the patents have just been granted and chips are in the samplings stage, we can expect Samsung to launch a high-end Mini LED TV only sometime next year. As previously stated by Trend Force, Samsung is eyeing 4K resolution TVs in 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch sizes. Analysts predict that Samsung Electronics will ship about 2 million units per year, with global mini-LED TV shipments expected to reach 4.4 million units by 2021.
Mini LED looks like the future of TV display technology as other big brands including LG and Sony are also eyeing offerings with the same technology, besides Samsung. Moreover, Apple is allegedly also working on an iPad Pro with a Mini LED display.
