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LG 2021 OLED line.
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This is the new G1 model.
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LG launched its first 83-inch TV this year.
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And there are also 8K TVs.
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Some of LG’s new TVs come with this “gallery stand” option.
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You can also mount them on the wall, of course.
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Here are the “QNED” TVs.
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The more modestly priced NanoCell product line is still one thing, too.
LG has announced that it will begin licensing its webOS TV software for use by other TV manufacturers. This will put webOS in direct competition with other platforms in use by TV brands, such as alternatives from Roku, Amazon and Google.
LG says “more than 20 TV manufacturers” have “committed to the webOS partnership” and cites RCA, Ayonz and Konka as examples. They will ship the operating system on their TVs and, in doing so, will have access to voice control features, LG’s AI algorithms and a very robust library of already developed streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube or Disney +.
For smaller manufacturers, this is more economical than developing these features on your own or lobbying companies like Netflix or Disney to support new platforms.
At the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January, LG announced webOS 6, a major redesign of the interface that adopts a design language that is more similar to what is found on most other TV operating systems. However, webOS licensees will, at least for now, be limited to an earlier version of webOS, which has the old interface.
In addition to any licensing fees, LG will be able to leverage this larger installed base to profit from a more robust advertising network and the collection of user data on a larger scale. The company will also put its LG Channels content operation on more TVs. In addition, LG has greater ambitions for webOS than just TVs, so this move helps the company’s efforts to make webOS more ubiquitous as the software expands to cars, appliances and other products.
Users can refuse advertising and data collection, but there is an advantage for them: a larger installation base for webOS is likely to lead to higher quality apps and more frequent updates from content companies.
As usual, this announcement came with a published statement from a major company executive – in this case, LG Home Entertainment president Park Hyoung-sei, who said:
The webOS platform is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to access millions of hours of movies and TV shows … By welcoming other manufacturers to join the webOS TV ecosystem, we are embarking on a new path that allows many new TV owners to experience the same excellent user experience and features available on LG TVs. We look forward to bringing these new customers to the incredible world of webOS TV.
WebOS for TVs as we know it today dates back to 2014, and reviewers and users have admittedly responded well to it because it is one of the most enjoyable TV operating systems to use. Part of its ease of use comes from the Wii-type magic remote that comes with LG TVs; The LG press release says partners who license webOS will sell TVs with similar remotes.
LG previously released an open source version of webOS in 2018, and Samsung announced plans to make its Tizen TV operating system available for licensing by other TV manufacturers in 2019. But a year and a half later, we heard nothing more concrete about the latter.
List image by LG