MicroLED vs. OLED: Which one’s going to prevail?

Luca Fontana

24.9.2018

Translation: Eva Francis

MicroLED is the future of screen tech. There's no other conclusion to draw from the fact that manufacturers such as Samsung and even OLED pioneer LG are investing millions in this new technology. Yet, I'm not fully convinced. Here's my prognosis.

OLED, the screen technology with self-illuminating pixels, seems to be the dominant topic in the TV industry. Why? It currently offers the best image quality. LG's subsidiary LG Display has a monopoly on OLEDs and supplies its panels to all manufacturers of OLED televisions.

This seems to be more than just a side blow to the competitor, but possibly even an admission that OLED – previously advertised as unbeatable – might not be the ultimate screen tech after all.

The question arises: Is MicroLED the end of OLED?

What MicroLED is and why it’s so good

MicroLEDs can be built much smaller than conventional LEDs. Apart from this, they work almost identically. What does this mean? Three red, green and blue subpixels form one single pixel. The colour of the pixel depends on how bright each subpixel shines. However, there is no backlighting – a MicroLED pixel is both a subpixel and a light source, just like an OLED pixel.

MicroLED is supposed to offer all the advantages of OLED technology – above all, the perfect black levels – without its disadvantages. What the disadvantages of OLED are? These two aspects in particular:

1. Screen burn-in and image retention (image residue)
2. Shorter lifespan than synthetic LEDs

When will MicroLED find its way into our living rooms?

The reason behind this is the modular design of MicroLED panels: It's not yet possible to place all MicroLEDs on a single back panel. Instead, the panel consists of several individual modules. Reports from CES 2018 often mentioned irritating and visible connections between the individual modules, especially when moving objects jumped from one module to another.

What struck us most was the outstanding colour rendering. This isn't much of a surprise, as Samsung's MicroLED screens strive for a coverage of 120 percent of the DCI-P3 colour space. What this means? Let's take a closer look.

A few years may pass before there is content with such a high colour space coverage. So it's probably not a bad thing that MicroLED technology is on its way.

LG’s balancing act; Apple and Sony’s empowerment

Samsung isn't the only company that's thinking about the medium-term future. At IFA 2018, an LG spokesperson confirmed that the company has initiated research and development projects for MicroLED technology. An official announcement from LG has yet to be issued.

This is quite a balancing act for LG: On the one hand, it makes sense for the Korean company to secure shares in this new and promising market segment. It's important not to be outpaced, even though Samsung seems to be more advanced in its research. On the other hand, LG runs the risk of weakening its OLED business by focusing on MicroLED. The key question is: Which screen technology is better and more sustainable for the future?

Manufacturers outside of South Korea – Sony or Apple, for instance – have also invested millions in developing of this technology.

There seems to be a rather clear common goal: Getting MicroLED ready for the market within the next decade.

The technology is there, but not yet ready

«The Wall», which was presented by Samsung in January 2018, is a glimpse into the future. It's a statement. It's Samsung's way of saying: We can build it and it looks good. Ironically, the challenge isn't producing MicroLED screens that are as large as possible – as the introduction to this article may have suggested – but rather making them as small as possible. Why? The modular architecture is more suitable for large screens.

Pixel density is decisive when it comes to determining how difficult it is to produce a screen: the smaller the screen size, the less space there is for the pixels. Keep in mind, every pixel is made up of three subpixels. Each subpixel has to be produced and calibrated individually. Apple experienced this to be such a complex challenge that the project was almost discontinued a year ago. It wasn't until the end of 2017 that the Californians achieved a breakthrough.

It remains to be seen whether MicroLEDs will ever become relevant for the home cinema market. The development for this segment will take years – years in which OLED pioneer LG will also continue to develop and improve organic light-emitting diodes. In addition, the production of synthetic MicroLEDs seems to be much more complex than that of OLEDs. Without a doubt, this fact will have an impact on the price.

My conclusion and prognosis: MicroLED will become a reality, but not for home cinema

What we know so far is that MicroLED is predestined for large screens. However, as long as MicroLED panels can't be manufactured without splitting – or at least without visible connections – this new technology won't manage to establish itself in the home cinema market. That's my opinion.

In my mind, MicroLED is an extremely interesting and relevant technology – but not for home cinema use. This might be a (potentially too) risky prognosis. I'd love to look back at this article in five to ten years and see if I was right or not.

Let’s get back to our question: Is MicroLED the end of OLED? I doubt it.

And now I’d like to know what you think!

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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