LG’s 77 inch OLED TV at KRW 40 Million, Is the Price OK? Comparison with Competitors…

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

LG Electronics recently announced 77 inch OLED TV, and its factory price at KRW 41 million received much attention. With the diverse public opinions regarding this, OLEDNET looked into price trend of TV of similar size.

According to UBI Research, Samsung Electronics’ 78 inch SUHD TV product is being sold at USD 7997.99 ~ 9997.99 (lowest price at Amazon). Released in April, these products utilize quantum dot film attached LCD panel.

For Sony which uses LCD, 75 inch product released in January costs approximately KRW 6.7 million as of July, and 85 inch product costs approximately KRW 9 million. Sony products are less costly than Samsung and LG products.

The actual market price of LG Electronics’ 77 inch OLED TV is not yet exactly known. However, the comparison with its factory price of KRW 41 million shows it is about 4 times more expensive than Samsung Electronics’ 78 inch product and Sony’s 85 inch product.

Compared to LCD TV, existing large OLED TV of same size is about twice as expensive. Although the gap has been recently reduced, this is due to LG Electronics’ OLED TV price reduction. While it is true that OLED TV is pricier, that does not mean it is not marketable. In fact, LG Electronics announced that Q2 2016 OLED TV sales increased by 4 times compared to previous quarter through conference call.

However, some believe that the fact the difference is approximately 4 times, rather than twice, will bring down the competitiveness. Regarding this issue, Choong Hoon Yi of UBI Research explained that considering that the yield drops rapidly as the size increases, the price of LG’s 77 inch new product is not totally out of order. He added that the price will drop with yield improvement, and looking at TV market trend so far, the market price could eventually be half of the factory price.

LG Electronics’ 77 inch OLED TV could fall to about KRW 20 million from KRW 41 million, reducing the price gap against LCD TV of similar size to approximately 2 times. Yi further added that despite being twice as expensive as LCD TV, OLED TV has been solidifying its position in the market.