Company to apply RGBRGB one chip
Samsung is yet to launch the 99-inch version of its MicroLED TV.
This is despite the company saying earlier in the year that it will do so in the first half of the year.
Samsung had also said it plans to launch 88-inch and 76-inch versions of MicroLED TV within the year.
A Samsung spokesperson said this was because of high demand for its 110-inch MicroLED TV.
However, people familiar with the matter said the delay was caused by the cost problem in launching smaller versions of MicroLED TVs.
The 99-inch version should have a price tag lower than the 110-inch version, which costs 170 million won.
But MicroLED requires even smaller LED devices to packed into a smaller surface when the screen is made smaller.
This causes yield rate to decline, the people said. The 110-inch model requires over 8 million LED chips to transferred onto the substrate.
The repair process to swap defective LED devices on the substrate is also expensive for smaller models, the people said.
Samsung will likely delay the commercial launch of smaller screened MicroLED TVs, they said.
MicroLED TV currently only accounts for only 0.001% of the total number of TVs Samsung ships per year, which is around 50 million units.
The South Korean tech giant is planning to expand the application of red, green and blue one chip transfer technology in its MicroLED TV production.
This differs from when Samsung transferred red, green and blue chips individually.
Grouping the three colors together makes the transfer process easier. This increases yield rate and MicroLED TV panels will require less repairs. All of this lower cost.
Samsung was also considering RGBRGB one chip, where six of the colors are made into one chip before being transferred on the substrate.
The company ordered the equipment it needs for MicroLED one to two months later than expected in the first half of the year. These equipment will be used in the production of MicroLED TVs launching in 2022.
Competitor LG Electronics currently offers 88-inch 8K OLED TV at 47 million won.
MicroLED TVs uses LED devices that are micrometers in size as pixels. Samsung packs them in 9.7-inch modules to assembly them into TVs. It first launched a 146-inch version of the TV back in 2018.