May 19th, 2008
Samsung: OLED laptop in '09?
At an industry display conference this week, Samsung will unveil a prototype laptop with a 12.1-inch active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display.
If you have ever seen Sony’s XEL-1 11-inch OLED TV, then you know just how cool an OLED laptop could be. On the other hand, if you’ve seen the XEL-1’s price tag–$2,500–then you realize odds are we won’t see this laptop in 2009, even though several sites reported that Samsung may release commercial versions sometime next year.
OLEDs use light-emitting diodes (hence the name) made up of electroluminescent organic compounds to produce different colors. Because OLED displays do not require a backlight, they are thinner and use less power, and the images are bright, colorful, and visible at an angle. The disadvantages are that they have a shorter lifespan than LCDs, and currently are very costly to manufacture.
For a company that is a virtual unknown in laptops here in the U.S, Samsung has been making a lot of news lately. Last week, a company executive told journalists at an event in Seoul that Samsung needs to triple laptop shipments to 11 million units by 2011 (5.7% worldwide market share), or it would exit the business altogether. Samsung reportedly plans to expand sales by entering the already-crowded markets in U.S. and Europe. Samsung later stated that 11 million units was an “ambitious goal” but it had no plans to get out of laptops.
[Via Hexus.net]
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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