Samsung denies reports of OLED and LCD business separation

A recent article from Korea Times (now taken down) claimed that Samsung would be splitting its display business into separate LCD and OLED branches and was considering selling off its LCD production branch to Chinese manufacturers. Samsung Display shortly shut down the rumor according to Apple Insider and will continue to operate and further develop both LCD and OLED technologies.

OLED appears to be key to emerging technologies like VR and foldable displays, but remains niche or very expensive in most other applications including TV sets and notebooks. Nonetheless, more products have been unveiled with OLED panels including the first OLED notebooks revealed at CES 2016 and even an OLED PC monitor (Dell UltraSharp UP3017). It will certainly take a bit more time before OLED can reach mainstream price levels to better compete with traditional LCD panels.

Samsung is apparently envisioning a future dominated by OLED devices now that IPS panels have become common and very cheap due in part to competitive prices from Chinese manufacturers. The South Korean manufacturer is still the worldwide leader in OLED production and its technology in general and has supposedly secured a deal with Apple to provide OLED panels for future iPhone models.

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