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- Samsung unveiled a new 110-inch TV model with an advanced Micro LED screen.
- Micro LED is designed to compete with OLED and can offer better image performance than any other type of panel on the market.
- We need to examine the screen during a special CES 2021 First Look event, and the TV looks impressive in person.
- See also: Samsung’s new 2021 4K and 8K TVs promise big improvements in image quality
Samsung has shown huge Micro LED displays at CES in recent years, but the impressive technology has not yet reached the consumer market. This year, however, the company plans to change that.
For the first time, Samsung will be launching 110, 99 and 88 inch 4K Micro LED TVs. There is no pricing information or an exact release date, but the monitors are scheduled to launch before the end of 2021.
The micro LED promises important improvements over other types of TV panels and may even end up beating our current favorite TV technology, OLED. To help demonstrate what makes Micro LED so special, Samsung invited Insider Reviews to a CES 2021 First Look face-to-face event.
The 110-inch Micro LED TV was present at the demonstration, and the beautiful screen did not disappoint. It is important to note, however, that Samsung described the model as a prototype, so the screen could still undergo some changes before it hit the market.
That said, based on what we’ve seen so far, Samsung’s Micro LED shows incredible promise, and technology may well end up being the future of TV. It’s not perfect, but the overall image quality is just stunning.
Note: Samsung did not allow photos of the Micro LED TV at the CES event, therefore, all images included here are provided by the manufacturer.
Samsung
Micro LED is an advanced panel technology used for monitors. The technology was designed to compete with other popular TV types, such as LCD (usually LED or QLED) and OLED.
As the name implies, Micro LED screens are made up of millions of microscopic red, green and blue light-emitting diodes. Micro LEDs are self-emitting, allowing them to dim, shine or turn off individually. This results in an infinite contrast ratio with true black levels and wide viewing angles – which are all areas where regular LCD TVs struggle.
Meanwhile, OLED TVs are capable of similar contrast, but this technology uses organic LEDs that can degrade over time. This leads to limitations of brightness and the potential for burning. As Micro LEDs are inorganic, Samsung claims that they can get brighter and last longer than OLED TVs, with virtually no risk of burning.
In other words, Micro LED has the potential to combine everything home theater fans love with OLED TVs, while offering brightness features similar to those of an LCD TV. Basically, it can be the best of both worlds.
Unlike typical TVs that use a panel, Micro LED screens are actually built from several aligned tiles. This creates the potential for modular screens, where you can add, remove or move blocks to create different display sizes and orientations.
Samsung offers a modular Micro LED screen for business and luxury customers, called “The Wall”, which has this capability. That said, the 110, 99 and 88 inch micro TVs scheduled for launch in 2021 will have fixed configurations and will not be modular.
Samsung
For demonstration purposes, Samsung had a prototype of its 110-inch Micro LED TV in a dark room displaying a beautiful 4K HDR video roll.
As is typical of demonstrations like this, the footage featured a beautiful variety of colorful images ranging from brilliant gemstones to imposing urban landscapes. The images dazzled, regardless of what was on the screen, with rich saturation, precise highlights and deep levels of black that disappeared in the room.
Samsung didn’t offer a specific number in nits, but in my eyes the maximum brightness was very impressive, offering a sharper image than I’m used to seeing on such a large screen. One scene, featuring a starry night sky over mountains, was particularly impressive, as each star shone brightly on the screen against the black as ink.
It’s the kind of infinite contrast I’ve only seen on OLED TVs before, but the HDR effect was even more pronounced. The viewing angles were also essentially perfect, with no real color or contrast issues when viewed from the side.
An LCD TV of this size, even with advanced local darkening, would still show signs of flowering, crushing or fading out of the angle. An OLED would probably look just as impressive, but not quite as bright. Micro LED was able to demonstrate all the benefits of both technologies without offering any real sign of their failures. That said, the pixels were visible if you put your face directly on the screen, but that’s the case with any 4K TV of this size.
Of course, demos like this offer only a limited view of what a TV can do, and it’s important to remember that the model on display is still a prototype. At the end of the day, however, the experience just left me wanting more.
As impressive as the Micro LED is, no display technology is perfect. We will need to spend more time with a Micro LED TV to really evaluate it, but based on what we’ve seen so far, there is a small drawback that is already clear: the seams are sometimes visible on the screen.
Since Micro LED TVs are built from multiple display panels connected together, there are seams between each panel, creating the appearance of a grid. Fortunately, these seams are very weak and, during my demonstration time, I found them extremely difficult to identify.
In fact, from a normal viewing distance and a centralized angle, they are essentially invisible. It is only when you get too close to the screen or look at the screen from an external angle that the seams appear slightly. Even so, seams usually appear only when certain colors are on the screen. Likewise, you can see them when the TV is turned off.
It is too early to say how important this will be when watching a Micro LED TV under normal conditions, but I doubt it will end up being a big problem. Although LCD and OLED TVs do not have this specific problem, they have their own uniformity quirks that can be just as disturbing.
Samsung has not yet announced prices in the US for its Micro LED TVs, but it is safe to say they will be very expensive when they hit the market. The new panel technology always has a premium value, and the Micro LED has been particularly difficult to reduce at the consumer level.
According to ZDNet, the 110-inch Micro LED TV model is being launched in South Korea for 170 million won, which costs about $ 156,000. A similar price is likely for the US.
The closest premium TV that we can now look at for comparison is probably LG’s 88-inch OLED 8K TV, which currently sells for $ 30,000. Samsung’s Micro LED TV has 4K instead of 8K, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a similar, if not higher, price for the 88-inch model.
Samsung
Samsung’s Micro LED may well be the future of TV, but like any screen technology, it won’t be perfect. Still, based on what I’ve seen so far, the pros of image quality seem to outweigh the cons.
The real question will be how much these monitors will end up costing. I hope this first wave of Micro LED TVs will be prohibitively expensive for regular buyers, but the 2021 line may help pave the way for more affordable Micro LED TVs in the (hopefully) not too distant future.