Samsung is the largest TV maker in the world, and it has been able to hold its position for 12 years in a row. It unveiled newer generation high-end QLED TVs earlier this year, but the sales have been slower than expected. The South Korean TV giant is now reportedly trying to find a solution to increase the sales of its QLED TVs. According to research firm IHS, the market share of QLED TVs stood at a meagre 1.5 percent in the first quarter and just 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2017.
Cadmium, which is a toxic heavy metal used to make QLED panels, is restricted by European and other environmental laws. However, the QLED panels made by Samsung are Cadmium-free but expensive to manufacture. This is the reason why most brands haven't jumped onto the QLED bandwagon yet. According to a report from Business Korea, Samsung is thinking about opening up its cadmium-free QLED technology to other brands to increase the adoption among consumers. However, no final decision has been made yet.
An official from Samsung Electronics said, “Only a few companies can produce cadmium-free quantum dot displays, so the Quantum Dot TV market is not growing. Samsung is in a dilemma in opening its self-developed technology because the technical gap with TV producers that got into the business late can be easily narrowed while the company cannot create any profits.” Currently, HiSense, Samsung, TCL, and Vestel are using the Quantum Dot technology for TVs, while Changhong, Grundig, Konka, LG, Loewe, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, and Skyworth are using OLED panels.
Usually, when Samsung adopts a new technology, other brands follow, but that hasn't happened yet with QLED. So, the company is trying to popularize the QLED brand and is hoping to take the leadership in the segment. According to a lot of experts, Samsung's QLED TVs don't use the actual Quantum Dot technology, and LG's OLED TVs are far superior to Samsung's QLED TVs in terms of picture quality.
