Samsung charge $13,000 for first curved, super thin OLED TV

Samsung Electronics have decided to charge a whopping $13,000 for their first curved, super thin OLED television. This is the same price as their rival LG are charging.

If you missed our story yesterday then we think you might want a recap. Seiki, a small time brand are charging only $699 for their upcoming 4k television, but other manufacturers clearly aren't following suit. Samsung will be hoping that their $13k OLED 55 inch television will be a big seller, but we can't imagine many people could afford the asking price. Independent reports indicate that they have sold only a couple of hundred of these panels so far this year.

OLED televisions are still very much a niche market and Kim Hyunsuk a Samsung executive vice president spoke to reporters saying “We have just introduced our first OLED TV and have to see consumer response to gauge overall market demand.”

DisplaySearch, the well known research firm have forecast global industry wide sales of OLED televisions at 50,000 this year, but 600,000 next year. By 2016 they claim that 7 million will be sold. By then however the price is likely to be more realistic.

OLED technology is still expensive, but it is certainly a step forward in regards to quality. The Organic Light emitting Diode technology ensures sharper picture quality, faster response times and high contrast images. The panels can also be bent around to form a curved television set, which manufacturers are claiming makes for a more immersive experience.

Samsung and LG both believe that OLED is the future investing a substantial amount of money in the technology to drive forward their televisions in the coming year. Between them, they sell almost 50% of all televisions worldwide.

Kitguru says: The asking price is still too high for these to high mainstream – but maybe in late 2014 we will see OLED costs drop.

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