Would you pay $8,000 for a TV that’s as thick as a sheet of corrugated cardboard?
Electronics maker LG is reportedly ready to introduce the first big-screen TV in May using OLED technology that allows sets to be built less than a quarter inch thick.
Early adopters eager to get their hands on the razor-thin TV set, which debuted at the CES trade show earlier this year, are expected as much as four times the cost of many top-of-the-line TVs already on the market.
LG’s OLED TV measures a scant 4mm in depth — less than a quarter of an inch thick — and weighs 16.5 pounds, making it significantly thinner and lighter than your average HDTV.
Besides saving space, OLEDs produce higher contrast, sharper images and more true-to-life color than LCD and plasma TVs.
The new TV sets are likely to hit stores by late summer.
Pricing on the LG TV is expected to drop once rival Samsung reveals a price point for its own 55-inch OLED TV, though. Tech watchers expect the Samsung model to cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
Both LG and Samsung’s 55-inch OLED TVs will have the usual hi-def resolution, as well as Smart TV — integrated Web — and 3-D capabilities. (Samsung’s model will be twice as thick as the LG version.)
In prior years, manufacturing costs of OLED — short for organic light-emitting diode — displays were considered too high to produce big-screen TVs. In 2007, Sony debuted an 11-inch OLED TV at the retail price of $2,500.
OLED displays are most commonly seen in high-end smartphones, laptops and handheld devices, like the Sony PlayStation Vita.