Cheaper QLED TVs might be on the way: Samsung is developing a less expensive quantum dot layer

• New QLED panels wouldn't need expensive barrier film layers
• Samsung doesn't yet know when the tech will be commercialized
• It's only for QLED; QD-OLEDs are made differently

One of the most expensive parts of a QLED display panel is about to get a whole lot cheaper, and that should mean even more affordable QLED televisions.

The component in question is the quantum dot sheet, which sits on top of the LCD panel to improve color reproduction – it's the actual quantum dot part of QLED TVs.

A QLED display currently has barrier film on either side of it to protect the quantum dot layer from oxygen and water. According to trade site The Elec, those films account for 40% of the cost of quantum dot sheets – and Samsung and its supplier Hansol Chemical have found a way to get rid of them.

What Samsung's tech means for QLED – and why it won't help QD-OLED TV

At the moment, a quantum dot sheet has five layers. With the new design there are three.

Samsung and Hansol's new quantum dot sheet design does away with the barrier films altogether without exposing the quantum dots to potential problems.

That should mean a huge drop in the price of QLED panels, but not immediately: Samsung doesn't yet know when the technology will be commercialized.

And even then, it doesn't necessarily mean that QLED TVs will definitely become cheaper – the savings might just be used to absorb rising costs and keep the TVs the same price, or the money from the saving might be invested in other areas of the TV, such as improving the backlight or speaker system.

As The Elec points out, while the new design is good news for QLED TVs, it's not going to make any difference to QD-OLED displays.

That's because QD-OLED panels use a different design. Whereas QLED panels put a quantum dot layer atop an LCD light source, QD-OLED TVs use a blue OLED light source with two red and green conversion layers added via inkjet printing rather than in their own separately manufactured layer.

That's a bit of a shame, because QLED TVs are already getting pretty low-priced, but QD-OLED TVs such as the Samsung S95F or Sony Bravia 8 II very much are not.

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