Samsung’s new 83-inch TV could be a harbinger of consumer confusion
Enlarge / A promotional image for the new 83-inch S90C Samsung OLED TV. (credit: Samsung)
Samsung is about to begin selling its first TVs with OLED panels made by rival LG after months of negotiations. Unfortunately, the way the TVs that come out of this deal are branded and marketed could cause confusion for consumers who want the most bang for their buck.
On Tuesday, Samsung published a blog post revealing a new 83-inch TV that lives in the company's existing S90C range of high-end OLEDs. In truth, the set had been leaked weeks earlier, when excellently obsessive and detail-oriented TV expert Vincent Teoh of HDTV Test was quick to observe that Samsung does not currently make 83-inch panels itself-meaning this must be the first TV in Samsung's deal with LG.
The complicated story behind Samsung's new OLEDsThe Samsung-LG deal was rumored in fits and starts for months. As LG made and shipped OLED TVs and panels and talked up the benefits of OLED compared to good-old LED LCD, Samsung stuck to shipping LCD TVs, introducing new technologies to try to keep the older technology competitive.